The 'indie' spirit...

So, I'm trippin' over here.

Watching the Grammies right now.

(by the way, Radiohead is KICKIN' IT!)

And in the break we switched over to CNN for a minute in time to catch a piece on the woes over at General Motors.  They were interviewing a couple different union heads at the Indianapolis metal fabricating plant.

The whole gist of it was:

1) The workers can't believe they're facing extinction.

2) The workers feel like they're OWED a job.

3) They're going to vote 'no' to a settlement offer from GM.

And I turned to Nik and said.  "Well, you can't go on making cars no-one wants and that break down at the slightest provocation and that are inefficient as all-heck and expect to keep your job..."

If no-one wants your products you're sunk.

Nobody OWES you a job.

There is no such thing as 'business as usual' anymore.  I mean, heck, it'd be great to think you've got a $56/hour (that's a $116,480 a year job by the way...) job for LIFE just 'cause you happen to get hired by the company that used to be America's biggest.

They 'aint no more 'cause they've been OVERPAYING you, dude.

Seriously.

Being a guy who's ALWAYS lived with financial insecurity hanging over his head I'm quite prone to snapping when confronted with the attitude I saw on display with those plant guys.  

I'm an independent film and television producer.  Who's gonna' bail ME out?  Before that I was a Church planter.  Anybody come to rescue my baby Church when we couldn't make payroll?

Nope, we went without pay.  Nobody came to save us.

Nobody.

So, why should these guys who cut metal that gets built into cars that suck gas and break down at the slightest provocation, get their asses bailed out?

"Well, because the entire economy depends on GM..."

Gee', if that's the case, if we're really dependent on an OBSOLETE company as THE root and source of the health of North America's economy, well then, we're really in trouble aren't we?

If GM thought more like an independent producer, or like a Church planter, I bet you they'd have started INNOVATING twenty years ago.  

Instead, they've been building SUBURBANS for twenty years (or more) and CORVETTES for twenty years and CADDY'S for TWENTY YEARS with little to no improvement.  Have you ever driven a CAVALIER?  They're so bad, they just about make you sick, drivin' 'em...

(oh, so harsh Mr. Cantelon...)

And I'm not referring to incremental 'tweaks' like "Sir, we've improved fuel efficiency by 7% this year..."  I'm talking about, "Sir, we've figured a way to make this MoFo solar!"

That kind of innovation.

The kind of innovation a Pastor has to bring to keep a sermon fresh week after week after week in a changing World.  The kind of innovation a Filmmaker needs to bring to keep telling resonant story.  The kind of innovation a husband has to bring to keep his wife lovin' him.  The kind of innovation a Mom has to wield to homeschool her kids.

Sometimes a thing (no matter how big) needs to die so new life can take its place.

Go home GM, go home.

Send that bail out money somewhere where it'll actually DO something.  You've had your fifty years.

'Bout time for change if you ask me.

T