Candide.

“I have wanted to kill myself a hundred times, but somehow I am still in love with life. This ridiculous weakness is perhaps one of our more stupid melancholy propensities, for is there anything more stupid than to be eager to go on carrying a burden which one would gladly throw away, to loathe one’s very being and yet to hold it fast, to fondle the snake that devours us until it has eaten our hearts away?” 

Voltaire, Candide: or, Optimism

It was a comment of Daniel Bassill that set it off:

"I've followed Simon's posts for about half a year now and they are 'wide ranging'. Mine are more focused. If we have a problem, how do we solve it? Who needs to be involved?" 

I thought about that term 'wide ranging.' 

I felt downbeat at first:

"Daniel is right, wide-ranging, rambling,I should be more focused."

Then I thought back to an old school report.

"Simon clearly has his ups and downs." (or words to that effect)

Christ, every little thing makes me feel down beat at times.

It occurred to me that what for others appears 'wide ranging' is in fact for me focused.

I map mostly feeling.

@tutormentorteam i am stopping rowing :-) pic.twitter.com/ih0zXos7lz

— Simon Ensor (@sensor63) August 22, 2016

I am at times all at sea. 

And then I hit dry land.

If I have a problem, I attempt to solve it.

When it remains unsoluble, I find that difficult to accept.

It gets me down, unreasonably.

Being alternatively sensitive and insensitive is a fierce mixture.

If I feel, I attempt to write for better and for worse.

Writing keeps me grounded.

I write to thrive or to survive.

Sometimes when I am not writing I am barely surviving.

Sometimes when I am not writing I am absolutely thriving.

Sometimes I thrive and barely survive the same day.

I try to figure out who doesn't need to be involved.

If I am feeling my way around in the dark, this place can be a last resort.

I was a humourless wreck in the early hours.

I struggled to keep afloat.

Beating about the bush.


I struggled to keep afloat.

Yesterday afternoon:

I couldn't have been more focused.

Seasonal Amnesia.

I couldn't have been more focused.

I was wrighting my ship.

I was digging for good humour to keep me going.

The amnesia wasn't a joke.

To fight it I found humour.

There was no other path forward.

@sensor63 @EatcherVeggies @WarwickLanguage @telliowkuwp @taniatorikova @NomadWarMachine @makle1 a comic response ... pic.twitter.com/aBGB5cB9vk

— KevinHodgson (@dogtrax) August 22, 2016

There was no other path forward.

Kevin helped me lighten up.
Tania helped me lighten up.

https://t.co/XkpH0j2UqQ https://t.co/MUJxmbugua

— Tania Sheko (@taniatorikova) August 22, 2016

Terry helped me lighten up.

Summer is over. Oh so over. #wkueng100 pic.twitter.com/k6qfNPHBll

— Terry Elliott (@telliowkuwp) August 22, 2016

If there is any sense in this 'digital half-life existence' it is you, a company of full-life friends.

You pull me back up.

There are times when I am too deep under.

I am sorry. I go away and find a hole for shelter.

You are not alone, nor are they. @dogtrax @sensor63 @EatcherVeggies @NomadWarMachine https://t.co/5yIrn0pARk

— Terry Elliott (@telliowkuwp) August 18, 2016

I thought back to Daniel's comment.

I remembered the work that I had done.

I remembered the grief that drags me down.

I remembered the priority that I be well.

It was that which Daniel's comment brought me.

I shall attempt to row less and sail more, to wait for a fair breeze, to batten down the hatches when the storms unfurl.

I yearn for calm.

Oh fuck it. Oh shut it.

Surf your waves of sarcasm Simon.

I sit down and listen. 

Let the others take out their oars.

My youngest daughter is reading a favourite book.

"Peace at last."

Nothing else matters.

Walk with me a while.

What that I might want to say could I want to write?

A fraught sentence?

I don't know.

It will do for now.

Walk with me a while.

Nothing better to do?

Nothing better to do.

Nothing better to do.

Walk with me a while.

It's harmless enough.

It's aimless enough.

Don't ask.

Don't speak.

Just walk.

Walk with me a while.

I can't say.

Anyway...

It doesn't make it feel any better.

Are we going somewhere?

(...)

Nowhere that I might want to go.

(...)

This will have to do for now.

I am avoiding saying what I ought.

(...)

Oh..?

(...)

Forget it.

Just walk with me a while.

I hate writing in the dark.

(...)

What I learnt from the Michelin Man...(breaking the mould)

I confess to an emotional attachment to Michelin.

I know that this will be seen by many as suspect. After all it's a multinational corporation we are talking about here. It's not fashionable to profess one's admiration for such a company.

I had better explain myself.

I have been living in Clermont Ferrand for almost half my life, As one arrives in my city, the capital of Auvergne in France, one is met by a gigantic billboard announcing factory buildings; this is the capital of Michelin.

Nobody in Clermont Ferrand can ignore the might of the company in the fabric of the community. For you, Michelin maybe only mean tyres and Bibendum, the company's logo, here it also names a family: Edouard, Andre, Marcel... streets, stadiums and schools. Clermont and Michelin are indissociably linked, for better or worse - fact.

As in all family histories, there have been shadowy stories and tragic instances. Stories of collaboration with the German occupier during the second world war or resistance to it followed by deportation and imprisonment. Triumph,..untimely death punctuate its saga.

Major conflict, industrial/internacine dispute, innovation, competition, domination, secrecy, distrust run deep here; emotional attachment does not preclude reasoned detachment or harsh judgement.

For all its failings, Michelin indisputably knows how to make trust-worthy radial tyres for your car, plane, tram, bike, tractor, truck or space shuttle.

One might remark: one tyre does not fit all.

Last Sunday, we took the kids to the park and while they were tiring themselves out, running, sliding and swinging. I fell into discussion with a Michelin man. He had just arrived in the capital after stints in the USA, Germany, the UK...

He was unquestionably, a Michelin man. Michelin men seem all to be of the same mould. Analytical, reasoned, reliably dressed and attached, Jean-Claude (we will call him JC), had worked in other corporations before being adopted by the Michelin family, thus giving him means of comparison.

Elsewhere, he had been used to being driven, his time and productivity counted to the last toc. The Michelin mind-set came as rather a shock.

"Yes, we think the fit between us is good, come and work with us." They had said at the interview.
"Oh right," said JC, "Er what shall I be doing."
"Oh don't worry about that." came the reply, "Trust us, come and work with us."
"Eh bien d'acord."

JC signed his contract.

A little while later, he was given an office and the vaguest of missions.

"OK, you have a month. Go and talk with us, see what we do, see what interests you. We'll talk together about where you'll be working after. Trust us."

A month later after observing JC from afar and chatting with other company men, the men came back and assigned JC his first real job. A variety of assignments around the world followed at regular intervals. Michelin invests in such men who will manage.

JC was now about to enter the lofty heights of the corporation's headquarters.

Financial director for agricultural tyres, his career was taking off. Happy, analytical, if not un-critical, JC expressed his admiration for the Michelin way. As the kids were whooping with joy in the play park.

I made mental notes:

Questions:

How many older kids in school get to seriously play freely? Should they be so driven? How much time do we give them to find their route? How much of our observation is done from afar? How much time do we take to imagine their missions with them? Are we so impatient to mould them to be competitive that we tire them out? Do we confuse education with manufacture? What do we do to help them break our mould?

Qualifications:

One tyre doesn't fit all.

You can't assemble a company or a community without trust.

Constant adaptation is essential to remain en route.

Freedom of action does not come without constraints.

Apprenticeship cannot be dissociated from research, repetition, or revolution.

Capital growth is rooted in social responsibilty.



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