Free Speech for Thee but not for Chick Fil A

I don't watch much news...it's all very depressing. So I didn't see the story about Chick Fil-A until someone posted about it on Facebook. Goes to show how addicted to Facebook I am, but that's another issue.

After hearing what the owner of this business actually said, I think this is a manufactured "issue"...and it shouldn't even be an issue in this day and age. Do people really think there are no Gay people working at Chick-Fil-A. They don't refuse service to people who are gay. They operate their business within the laws of our country.

And yet a few vocal radicals have taken the Chick Fil-A's owner's statements and blown them widely out of proportion - accusing him of being homophobic and bigoted and anti-gay marriage. None of those things appear to be true based on his statements.

He said he supported the biblical view of marriage.

OH GOOD LORD someone call the nightly news and report an outrageous opinion. Really? The definition of marriage as a man and a woman is somehow a radical, bigoted opinion? Where am I living? Mars?

I guess I thought we still lived in the United States where we had something called the First Amendment. That a government entity is now punishing a business and individual based on their speech is blatantly illegal, but that doesn't seem to stop them. Nor do they acknowledge their hypocrisy.

The owners of Amazon just donated millions towards the Gay Marriage campaign in Washington State. I don't plan on boycotting Amazon anytime soon.

This (gay) gentleman seems to have the right attitude.

If you have a different opinion that is great. What a boring world this would be if we all thought exactly the same. Yet, if you do think differently than the "approved" meme then you are ostracized, or worse. It's really pathetic and I refuse to change my beliefs just because they are unpopular with some.

I wish we had a Chick-Fil-A in our area...I'd offer them my business in a heart beat.

Success in Failing

Are young people (and by young I mean 30 and under...so I'm no longer considered young) today taught about the need to fail? And why is it that we even need to "teach" such an idea. I'm sure my grandparents never were "taught" how to fail...their parents let them fail plenty.

As a Recruiting Manager I see a lot of failure. The associates who succeed in the end don't let that failure stop them in their tracks. The ones who see the temporary failures as permanent will never make it any further. It seems that a lot of younger, and sadly some of the older associates, that we hire see failure as a bad thing.

I understand that failure can be a letdown and an impediment. In reality, we need to see "failure" as an opportunity to learn. Why did that approach fail? What could I have done differently? What can I learn and do different in the future?

One younger associate came in dejected recently because of a particularly hard business loss. Could it have been avoided? Possibly, but probably not. It affected him and another, slightly older, associate. Guess which one picked himself back up and kept on going?

Yup...the older guy.

Failing doesn't make you a loser. Quitting after you fail does.

I'm sure Bill Gates or Steve Jobs failed a lot. A LOT. As did Thomas Edison, the man who's invention is now being outlawed, and who found 1,000 ways to not make a light bulb (aka failing) before succeeding in giving us the miracle of electric light.

"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."