I hear sometimes folks say “this is the Big Boys’ table now.” It is usually said to justify outrageously rude behavior and a very narrow, exclusive culture among the folks at that “table.”
Hollywood likes to use “the Big Boys table” especially in thing like Espionage, or what passes for Espionage in these no-longer-cold-war days (or are they pre-second-cold-war days? I forget…). The up-start but eager “young” middle-management spy executive who has his / her eyes on the Grand Old Boss’ desk usually gets to fend off that particular line at least once during the movie.
I have always found it incredibly annoying, though — far as I can recall — it’s never actually been used at me.
I would offer that this is NOT the Big Boy’s table. That table is where folks with highly pompous attitudes (and similarly pompous pay checks) get to justify their spoiled 7-year-old behaviors: Back-stabbing, power-grabbing, misleading, caveat-emptor-loving silliness all geared toward personal power and next quarter’s returns and to virtually nothing else what so ever(1).
I suggest instead — because I have learned it myself, rather the hard way — that the One True Big Boys'(2) Table is the one where everyone wins, where decisions, plans and actions are taken that potentially benefit every living being on the Planet, where no one loses a thing, where the total fortunes and resources and quality of life of the entire Human Species are increased.
Very little of the last 160 years of Capitalism (or Corporate Culture or what ever you wish to call it) is anything to be proud of.
Build a “sky scraper” to last 200 years, 400 years; that’s a gift to the future. Build one to last 3 – 5 years (which, believe it or not, is the standard they are designed to — I have this confirmed from multiple sources) is a waste of public resources, energy, work hours, stone, steel, and everything else that went into creating a massive, temporary structure. Be ashamed of yourself, you who create such things.
Developing a successful micro-economy in various African communities, and watching those economies grow on their own, is a thing to be proud of, a thing with lasting positive repercussions. Selling business loans at ruinous interest rates is thing only a piranha could love.
Educating people on the true uses of vitamins in support of their health and preventive health care is a thing to be proud of. Telling folks vitamins are worthless, that only prescription drugs have value is a thing to be deeply ashamed of.
Developing a true communications framework that enables all people to talk to all people is a thing that benefits everyone. Using it to scam folks out of their limited, hard-earned money is a thing to be Grossly Ashamed of.
Big Pharma does not sit at the True Big Boys’ table, though they think that is exactly where they sit because of the incredible (truly, utterly incredible) amounts of money they deal in.
However: I know first hand that the cure for diabetes was stolen and suppressed(3). I know the man who created it, then had it stolen from him. Big Pharma [ok, some folks in Big Pharma] did that, because a billion dollars a day or more (test strips, insulin and such) is much yummier to them than a one-time cure at what ever cost. In this regard, at least, Big Pharma is a fraud, and this is a crime against Humanity. I know further that the body of data contained in that Cure for Diabetes had the promise of even greater discoveries, truly fantastic ones. But there it is; disease makes money; health — so they would tell you — does not.
Which is the Big Boys’ table? The one that focuses on personal profits? Or the one that aids everyone and furthers Humanity for generations to come?
I am not ranting against Big Pharma here, though it may seem so. They are the victims of their own culture and short-sightedness just as much as the rest of us are. I am merely using them as an example of the “Big Boys’ Table” being a handy delusion, a handy justification.
There’s another important difference between the So-Called Big Boys’ Table and the Real One. The so-called one is always and constantly interested in fixing blame when things go wrong, or even in manufacturing things-that-went-wrong in order to pin a blame on some one. The True Big Boys’ Table isn’t interested in blame — blame has no advantage, and no benefit, not among real adults; what matters at that table is only how to fix the situation and prevent it from happening again.
In anything you do — massively big or (seemingly) massively tiny, not withstanding — if you are not sure which way to jump, ask yourself this: one hundred years from now, what would have the most lasting positive effect(4)?
“Oh you’re being an Idealist,” they say. Yes? What’s wrong with that? Idealism is really only the finest we can imagine, the finest that might be done. Why would anyone strive for one bit less than the finest that can be conceived(5)?
That’s the Real Big Boys’ Table, and that’s a hard one to sit at.
Just some thoughts… Your mileage will vary by completely random amounts. May be hot after heating. And, after extended thought and consideration, you may even come up with entirely different conclusions of your own. Good for you!
(1) Not absolutely. I’m being dramatic. There are plenty of Big Corporates who certainly know better, themselves and who do grand and good work. I’m not speaking of those particular folks, but rather of those who really, truly believe the Big Boys’ Table is real.
(2) For purposes of this article, let’s not quibble over Gender Equivalence issues. It’s called “The Big Boys’ table” and I didn’t invent that awkward and particular nasty phrase; I’m just using it, and you know what I mean by it. So there.
(3) Believe it or don’t. I was there, but I won’t reveal names and I have no proof that is mine to offer. I have also heard of cancer cures similarly snarfed up and suppressed, but those are rumor to me; I have no way of knowing if those are true or not.
(4) Don’t believe anything you do could possibly matter 100 years from now? Oh piffle, come on. Everything we do, every nod of the head, every sandwich we make and every dollar bill we freely give away or scornfully deny to someone in need, every kind word, every harsh word uttered has lasting ramifications well beyond a mere 100 years. But that’s outside the scope of this posting.
(5) Without over-extending, I mean. Keep your reach within what you can actually do, or just a tiny bit over what you have managed in the past, but don’t reach for Mars when you haven’t even yet figured out how to get to Earth Orbit. Or to put it more simply: whatever you do, do it to the very best of your ability, otherwise it’s wasted effort.