Five Bullets

I've said it before, that in my opinion, we Americans have made an art out of complaining. We complain about the weather, our spouses, which genre of music is "the best," and on and on the incessant grumbling continues. But what we love to complain the very most and the loudest about is : OUR GOVERNMENT.

And we have had valid reasons to roll eyes because we have all long agreed that the delays, bumps, and frustrations from it being ridiculously ineffective, have always been a pointy thorn in our behinds.

So, why now are we making a stink about somebody actually trying to do something to make it BETTER?

I just don't get it!

The news and social media is inundated with the plan Elon Musk (along with President Trump's blessings) has put into play. His goal: make government more efficient. His methods: business type model (see article below) His stance: assertive and direct.

From the article below, the first e-mail (sent by the Trump administration’s Office of Personnel Management/OPM) was met with much confusion, shock, and denial. Some agencies in the federal government told their employees that compliance was "only voluntary." Some workers unions and activist groups went for lawsuits to test the validity of the requests. Some workers were told to "ignore" the directives. But some workers complied to prove they actually existed and actually did relevant work, making them EFFICIENT.

"The first email, which was distributed a week ago, asked employees “what did you do last week?” and prompted them to list five tasks that they completed. Musk, whose Department of Government Efficiency has been empowered by Trump with a mission to downsize agencies and eliminate thousands of federal jobs, said anyone who didn't respond would be fired."

“Please reply to this email (the second one,) with approx. 5 bullets describing what you accomplished last week and cc your manager,” the message read, adding that going forward, employees would be expected to submit a response each week by the following Monday at 11:59 p.m. Eastern."

(This latest email will be sent from the head of each agency's Human Resource department, hopefully to make the delivery less confusing and more reliable.) Maybe then there will be more compliance.

Okay, okay, okay...it's dreadfully true, that here in America, none of us enjoy being told what to do. I get that. But, like it or not...we do have to listen and comply with our bosses if we want our paychecks to continue. This story is being written by a natural born rebel. But I needed a paycheck. So, given the choice, and because my children needed food in their bellies, I complied to many "requests" from the administration that I didn't like one tiny bit.

But I am not and never have been a federal worker. Federal workers: you work for me and all your American brothers and sisters. I want to see those bullets being posted and I say it's about damn time.

In that same breath, I want to say "thank you" to those that have worked tirelessly to make life better for us, your cohorts, those not working in the government. Can't we all work together in this?

Give us those Five Bullets and do it proudly, please!

I know that this process is not only confusing, abrasive to our ho-hum acceptance of how government works (or doesn't work effectively,) and it might seem like a bulldozer is making a loud path down an angry ant bed, but in my opinion, it's a necessary evil. Sometimes tearing something down and starting over is the only solution.