samiam.com

That’s what I consider true generosity. You give your all, and yet you always feel as if it costs you nothing.
–Simone de Beauvoir

[Sam] I’ve been meaning to gripe about this for awhile and finally remembered to take a snapshot of the offending item. What you see here is the North Carolina Department of Labor Certificate of Operation for an elevator. This one is where I work, but that’s irrelevant; the same certificate is throughout the state. My gripe is that this ceritficate used to be a black & white document and did not have Mrs. Cherie Berry’s picture on it. I’m sure that in the expenditures of the state, even just in the NCDOL, the additional amount of money required to print the color logo and Mrs. Berry’s fine portrait are much less than a drop in the proverbial ocean. However, I bet the same amount of money would quite qualify as a windfall for the average Joe; I’m sure it would for me. So, Mrs. Berry, I have to ask, “Why is your picture on this document that is placed in every elevator in the state? Do you think it might seem odd that you, as an elected official, have a semi-permanent ad campaign running across the state at the taxpayers’ expense? Also, is the color logo really necessary? Do you think folks are planning on counterfeiting these elevator licenses?” I want my money back.

Regardless of the costs being borne by taxpayers or via inspection fees, there is a level of impropriety here. Mrs. Berry may be a fine Commissioner of Labor in many ways; I don’t know and likely will not find out. I’m simply saying having her picture on these posted, legally required documents is unfair advertising that helps put her in front of voters. For anyone running against her in the next election, similar advertising is simply not available. This advertising is available to her only because of her position.

(Sorry ’bout the poor image quality. Whaddya expect from a camera on a phone?)

[TC] What can I say? SAM is right. This is just another example of the petty abuses that politicians engage in all the time.

John Butts, who has spent a great deal of time at hospice talking with dying people, told me yesterday, “Every single one of those people talked about what they had not done in their life. Don’t hold back; do the things you want to do. If you’re going to fail, fail for trying, not from playing it safe.”

The quickest route to an empty life is to live only for yourself.
–Ralph Marston

Man, like the bridge, was designed to carry the load of the moment, not the combined weight of a year at once.
–William A. Ward