Think Global, Act Local

Write a post connecting a global issue to a personal one.

According to the United Nations, a global issue is “any social, economic, political or environmental problem that affects the global community, possibly in a catastrophic way.” And as of 2015, the UN has listed the issues that it deems pressing (you can check it here), and among them is pollution, or “the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change.” Pollution takes different forms, such as chemical substances or energy (i.e., noise, heat, or light). Pollutants, the components of pollution, can be either foreign substances/energies or naturally occurring contaminants. This has been a pressing issue all over the world, and has affected several places and even different facets of the environment. Just like how the world has been infested by trash, one common pollutant, my life—both personal and professional—lately has been contaminated by several trashy people.

Personal Life

I have been trusting—too trusting to be honest. I see the good in people, or at least I try to. And sometimes, this optimism screws me over. I have trusted people that I shouldn’t have; they abused my trust and went behind my back to steal something that was mine. I know I should not be talking about this anymore, but this is the best example of pollution in my life.

There were also people who knew of the betrayal and chose to cover it up, not because they did not want me to get hurt or were even trying to tell me sooner, but because they were friends with the person who betrayed me. They were accomplices to the betrayal. They were people who posed as my friends, and acted connivingly to ensure I was clueless of things.

These people changed my life tremendously; I now find it hard to trust people like me, and I no longer go out on weekends to party, trying to avoid being with them. Their presence and pretense also changed what I thought would have been a lasting part of my life: my relationship with my then significant other. They were part of the factors of our break-up; they may not be one of the biggest factors, but they were part of the reasons why we broke up. But looking at the bright side of life, at least, that way, I was able to clean my life from pollutants.

Professional Life

Where I work, I have always considered our team as a family—protecting one another, looking after the welfare of the others, making sure we all advance in our careers steadily. And just recently, as it turns out, some of us are actually trash, contaminating the entire team, and brought about a huge change—a change that was not for the better.

Some members of our team violated certain provisions of our company’s code of conduct, and they were reported to the authorities and were asked to separate themselves from the company for a graceful exit rather than getting terminated. What hurts the most is the person who reported them does exactly the same thing—the self-same thing that the others were asked to separate themselves for. Such hypocrisy! Story goes that the person (or people, not really sure which one is which since I am away, have been away) wanted both teammates gone from the team so they can usurp their position. It is sad that some people have more ambition than talent that they have to destroy others so they can advance on their goals.

It is sad to see two team members go, especially when they have been consistently delivering results and have been showing dedication despite their own personal problems. (A little bit of context, one is a single parent who just recently broke up with her partner and that did not stop her from doing her best at work, and the other one is a father of one and expecting another kid soon.) This is the kind of pollution in the work place that we should clean—the presence of envious, usurping, and good for nothing people who seek to destroy others for their personal advancement.