While beginning work at Duke and UNC, I had to attend a number of seminars on ethics and privacy in the workplace/classroom. In an effort to spice up the presentations, we watched videos of people disregarding ethical standards, after which we would have to pretend that we thought it was unacceptable to tell your sister that her boyfriend has AIDS. I remember one of these pearls addressing the “team player” phenomenon, or why you shouldn’t go along with your superior just because it’s the easiest, and with respect to your career, wisest, thing to do. Driving home this fact to a large audience with an admonishing finger wave is itself ironic, but what got me thinking today is how it’s good to be a team player with myself. That doesn’t have quite the right ring to it, but bear with me.

What I mean is that there are sometimes actions in my life that I want to, should take, which are unquestionably in line with my true self, but which I would be a complete idiot to do. In the future, before undertaking a pure, soul-satisfying action, I need to round up everyone in the boardroom and ask: “Is this good for the company”? Meaning, am I taking the whole of reality into account or just the small, idealistic cubical where I cross off my days in an Inspriation® calendar from WalMart?

Whoa, there, let’s take some steam out of the cynic train. My apologies, I’ve been suffering a spell of insomnia lately and peppiness is in short supply. Have a nice equinox.