Idealists all

It is strange that while a large part of my time is spent at work, I have not really mentioned my office very often except to gripe. And yes, it is true that I do sometimes have issues with my workplace. But when I complain it is about the most banal of things- weekends, internet connections, and gossip. And that is wonderful, because it shows that in the things that matter I am supremely content.

People have called me naive, and people have called me a dreamer. The more irritating ones have smirked and said, ‘you don’t know how the world is. Wait for a few years and you will learn.’ It is only slightly less surprising than it is refreshing therefore, to suddenly find myself in the role of Cynical Worldly Woman.

Because the chaps in the office are nothing if not dreamers to the core. It is refreshing while setting targets for the year to hear the most unexpected person pipe up and argue against financial indicators. It is refreshing while discussing a new project to see that the ethicality of the work and not its bottom line is the major deciding factor. And most of all, it is refreshing to hear ‘business’ meetings focus on how to change the world.

Of course it is not perfect. Sometimes there is a wide gap between the participatory ideal and the ‘because I say so’ reality. But the striving is there. Sometimes an eavesdropper lurking outside our rooms might think that a bunch of cats were squabbling in there. But not once in my presence has the squabbling been over who gets the most cream.

It is human, it is flawed, it firmly believes in the inherent goodness of humanity, it strives to make this world better one leaf at a time, and it continually agonizes over whether it is as just as it could be. Not a bad place to be, eh?