Tuesday, January 29, 2013

missed the memo or kool-aid

Back in my corporate world days we use the expressions “they didn’t drink the kool-aid” or “they are all drank the same kool-aid”. This expression (warning this might be a history lesson for you young-ins) comes from the terrible 1978 Jonestown massacre tragedy.

When you found yourself not knowing what everyone else in the group seemed to know, you might say the above or I didn’t get the memo. In the connected world of today do managers even bother to issue memos? Maybe they put all their employees on twitter.

Now that I’ve manage to get off-track on a tangent lets get back to what inspired this post. (another minor thought flare-up; reading an inspired post does not necessarily result in writing an inspirational post)

I was browsing around a few of favorite blogs. “Working the reader list”, if you like. I noticed a theme coming together on a few of the posts. Now this was not an organized meme thing. Sort-of a “smell-the-roses” or “carpe diem” type of theme appeared for no particular reason.


Now anytime I get a chance to throw around the few Latin words I know. Well, alleluia.

It started over at Mrs. 4444’s blog with her post, Gratitude Touchpoint


Then I scrolled through, Tami’s Time Flies post.

You know that feeling when things seem to be coming together and making some strange sense of purpose? No? Yeah it doesn’t happen much with me either.

CiCi posted a similar message too. 

The Child Spirit of Joy

At this point the line from Taxi Driver is circulating in my brain:
You talkin’ to me? 


(youtube link for those that don’t remember Taxi Driver - oh strong language included)

Was blogland talkin’ to me? I like to remind other people to lighten-up but I often forget to “walk the talk”.  Maybe I just didn't get the memo tweet.  I'm not on twitter.

If you would like a bit of carpe diem reflection then browse over to those posts linked above and tell them I sent you.

13 comments:

Cperz said...

I obviously didn't drink the kool aid ...as I didn't write a post similar in theme. I did enjoy checking the links you had though. I always appreciate a heads up to neat blogs.

Bill Lisleman said...

My hubby uses the drink the Kool aid comment all the time. Haven't had a chance to stop by everyone as much now that I'm working...I miss the grass on the green side...! Happy Tuesday!

Bill Lisleman said...

thanks for spending some time here and sharing a comment. Hope your job is going well.

Bill Lisleman said...

What is intriguing to me is the sudden popularity of the "drinking the koolaid" expresion. I remember the Jonestown incident vividly (I can still see the Time magazine cover in my mind), but I've only been hearing that expression for the last few years.

Bill Lisleman said...

We used the expression years ago (early 00's). I still use it once in awhile but have not noticed any recent increase. Do you think it's a good expression to use? thanks

Bill Lisleman said...

But not in the 70's or even 80's when it was actually a current event. It's an okay expression, I just suspect that many people who use it don't get the historical reference.

Bill Lisleman said...

I obviously didn't drink the kool aid ...as I didn't write a post
similar in theme. I did enjoy checking the links you had though. I
always appreciate a heads up to neat blogs.

BTW Bill...Discus is showing up on your blog in Chrome but not in Internet Explorer 9 or in Mozilla Foxfire. Actually in Explorer 9 it won't let me leave any comment at all.

Bill Lisleman said...

just read your email - weird stuff happening. I use Firefox almost all the time. Once in awhile I'll use Safari. I know different browsers can be a problem. Glad to see the comment show up.
thanks for checking back and looking into the issue.

Bill Lisleman said...

oh you are right about the historical reference. And yes everyone should wait for the tragedy to fade a little with time.

Bill Lisleman said...

I didn't drink the Kool-AId, either, and often forget to "walk the talk" myself.

Bill Lisleman said...

Good thing none of us drank that Kool-aid. It's probably just a coincidence that the 3 posts had a slightly related topic. It's a good topic to remind everyone of once in awhile.
thanks

Bill Lisleman said...

Thanks for the blog tips. I'll try to hop over.

Bill Lisleman said...

no problem

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