September 1, 2008
-
A Rumination on "Experience"
The impending election has once again raised the question of
the “experience”, or lack thereof, of the respective presidential and vice presidential
candidates. Experience is thought to be
a positive attribute, while lack of experience is considered a negative.The Democratic presidential
candidate Barack Obama, and the Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah
Palin, are said to be lacking in experience in general and foreign affairs
experience in particular. The older John McCain
and Joe Biden, on the other hand, are presumably men of great experience in
governing.Now experience, to paraphrase the late Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr., most certainly has its place.
I wouldn’t want a surgeon operating on me who had never performed a
surgical procedure before, or an auto mechanic attempting to repair my car who
had never before held a socket wrench in his hands. But those are highly technical skills; and
beyond the requirement of a certain fundamental level of experience, other
factors come into play.A threshold question might be, since John McCain and Joe
Biden have so much experience, how come they haven’t done a better job of
fixing our broken country? How, in fact,
have they managed to let things get so far out of hand during their long tenures in Washington? Why is it that, in the unchanging election-year political rhetoric,
our politicians with such vast experience are forever promising us that they
will “fight” for exactly the same things
that they promised to fight for years ago when we first elected them? But that too is an oversimplification.When I was on the Fire Department, those of
us who were more educated and impatient with what we considered “mediocrity” spoke
of our less-respected elders this way: “Yeah, he’s got a lot of experience all
right. Twenty years experience. He’s had the same two years of experience ten
times!” In other words, the firefighter
in question had stopped learning after two years. He was stuck in a past of 18 years before.When I was first hired as a firefighter back in 1975, we new
recruits were sent away for 10 or 12 weeks of training, where we were taught
the newest techniques of firefighting, including the use of self-contained
breathing apparatus (SCBA), commonly known as “air packs”.
To put out a fire, you have to apply the water in your hose to the seat
or base of the fire – where the fire actually IS. Unless you can get lucky by spraying water
through a window and hitting the fire more or less accidentally, this generally
means going INSIDE the burning building to find the fire, rather than waiting
for the fire to come outside and find you.
And staying inside the burning building long enough to find the fire and extinguish it,
particularly with all of the toxic synthetic materials in use today, generally
requires the use of air packs.When I got done with my training, and in fact for quite a number of years, I was among the least
experienced of all the firefighters on my fire department. And some of the older guys with many years of
experience in fighting fires – who were, incidentally, in command for most of my career - didn’t
believe in air packs. They prided
themselves on being “smoke eaters”, macho men who crawled into the burning
building and breathed the smoke, coughing and gagging all the while, for as
long as they could before having to crawl back out. They hoped that in the five minutes or so
that they could stay inside, they could get the fire put out. Otherwise they got a lot of experience hosing
down the charred rubble which was all that remained of the building that had
burned to the ground.[These were, incidentally, the same neanderthals who didn’t
believe in "book learnin'" of any sort. When a
few of us young pups studied training manuals or, God forbid, took fire science
classes, these guys guffawed, “What ya gonna do when there’s a FIRE? Throw a fuckin’ BOOK at it? Haw haw haw!”]In 1975 my fire department had just recently gotten some air
packs, but these older, experienced “smoke eaters” refused to wear them, and
some of them even discouraged us younger guys from wearing them.One fire in particular illustrates the ludicrous insufficiency of
experience alone. The fire was on the
second floor of a two-story house, with smoke rolling out of a bedroom
window. (Fire doubles in intensity every
minute, so the situation was rapidly threatening to get out of control.) I put on an air pack and followed a hose
through the front door. Inside the house
I found four of our experienced smoke eaters all huddled together at the base
of the stairs leading to the second floor, unable to proceed further because the
smoke and heat became more intense if they tried to ascend the stairs. I had to grab the nozzle and literally climb
over the backs of my more experienced colleagues in order to go up the stairs
all by myself, locate the fire in a back bedroom, and put it out.No, experience in and of itself is not enough, since it’s a
buzzword that communicates essentially nothing.
The only experience that’s really worth a damn is the kind that’s
combined with an open and questioning mind, one that is receptive to the
application of new ideas and improved techniques in order to avoid the mistakes
and ignorance of the past. And when it
comes to governing (as with most other worthwhile things in life), let us look
also for a heart of genuine integrity and compassion, without which all the experience in the
world is but smoke and mirrors.
Comments (12)
Good post and insights. I think that if you are young and willing to try new things it could very well trump experience. But if you are young and just as foolish as the old guys, then you have the worst of both worlds...the foolishness of youth and the stodgy resistance of age. I can back you up a bit and say that I'm the oldest scientist in my group. Many times the younger more recently trained people have great innovative ideas. But sometimes they need the tried and true old school methods. A good synergy between the two is important.
@Isismoon - Well said, Isismoon. Thanks for your comment!
When I was young, I thought experience was highly overrated. I'm sure, when I'm old, I'll feel that youth = foolishness and will trust only those with years and years of experience. Now, while I'm in the middle, I find that I search for those who seem the smartest.
@Isismoon - Who could leave a better comment?
This is a perfect comment to the post,thanks for saying it so well.
Excellent comparison of two professions that are there to protect us and keep us safe. The way you wrote this certainly gives us a reason to stop and think a little harder about the different methods there are out there to do things right. Both you and Isismoom hit the nail right on the old head!
A political post from you, and I can say I agree 100%. That's gotta be a first.
We should write this on the calendar.
Hear! Hear! Very well said!
I'm going to comment on Eccentrique's post on experience with respect to Prez and VP candidates as well as firefighting, snipping as I go to address only the parts of his blog entry I feel strongly about. You'll have to figure out where I snipped stuff, because this editor sux and I hate revising HTML for a mere blog reply.
A Rumination on "Experience"
The impending election has once again raised the question of the “experience”, or lack thereof, of the respective presidential and vice presidential candidates. Experience is thought to be a positive attribute, while lack of experience is considered a negative.
The Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, and the Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, are said to be lacking in experience in general and foreign affairs experience in particular. The older John McCain and Joe Biden, on the other hand, are presumably men of great experience in governing.
I actually think I wish both the GOP and Dem tickets were reversed, with Sarah and Joe being the candidates for Prez. Obama, if he wins, just doesn't have the political clout to lead, even if he is very intelligent, well educated, and extremely charismatic -- he'd be about as effective as Prez as Jimmy Carter was (not!). Biden has all the inside-the beltway connections one could wish for, but as Eccentrique and many well know political commentators suggest, experience is not enough. Joe is too much of a party politician and social conservative for my taste, but at least he can probably make things happen and seems to be able to gather an able group of advisers much as Reagan (definitely not a rocket scientist, but at least as charismatic as Obama).
Now experience, to paraphrase the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., most certainly has its place. I wouldn’t want a surgeon operating on me who had never performed a surgical procedure before, or an auto mechanic attempting to repair my car who had never before held a socket wrench in his hands. But those are highly technical skills; and beyond the requirement of a certain fundamental level of experience, other factors come into play.
I was working for an elderly couple yesterday, fixing some network related computer problems they were having. They've been married since 1954, so you can guess they aren't exactly Spring chickens, but they both have their own computer and use them often. He mostly surfs the Web, uses Gmail, and does not do much database work. She does build and maintain databases and coordinates some other things on her computer, but doesn't have his formal training or background in Data Processing (now Information Technology), and she asked me if taking a class or two might help her. My response was that there are all kinds of "computer classes" and that if she found the right one(s), she would almost certainly gain a lot of understanding which would help her deal with issues where working by handwritten notes or rote memory are difficult to resolve and generally require a call to me.
I think the key word here should not be "experience" so much as "understanding" -- the latter often gained by both book learning and experience at the task(s) at hand.
A threshold question might be, since John McCain and Joe Biden have so much experience, how come they haven’t done a better job of fixing our broken country? How, in fact, have they managed to let things get so far out of hand during their long tenures in Washington? Why is it that, in the unchanging election-year political rhetoric, our politicians with such vast experience are forever promising us that they will “fight” for exactly the same things that they promised to fight for years ago when we first elected them? But that too is an oversimplification.
McCain and Biden are not and have never been dictators. That is why they have not simply "fixed things". McCain and Biden as high ranking executives of the US would be in a better position to repair our economy and resolve the energy crisis. I like McCain's proposals better, but Obama has stances on social issues that appeal to me more than McCain's or Palin's. Biden is an all to experiened political hack to tends to do whatever will get him reelected, whether it be right or wrong. Biden as VP could really only advise Obama who he apparently doesn't get along with all that well behind the scenes. I get the impression that McCain actually likes Palin and will groom her, so to speak, to become next Prez after him, and she seems to be the sort who will learn quickly and is flexible and talented enough to take the reins of the nation should McCain's age actually prove to be a problem. Palin is a true renegade and doesn't let party politics prevent her from doing what she think is best for her constituents. That is a rare thing in politics and, in addition to her high ethical standards, is almost certainly what has made her the most popular governor of any state according to the people who live there (based on what I heard on the news the other day).
When I was on the Fire Department, those of us who were more educated and impatient with what we considered “mediocrity” spoke of our less-respected elders this way: “Yeah, he’s got a lot of experience all right. Twenty years experience. He’s had the same two years of experience ten times!” In other words, the firefighter in question had stopped learning after two years. He was stuck in a past of 18 years before.
That's a very common problem. I totally agree with you about the negatives of people who get stuck in the past, and that is all too easy to do. Somehow I doubt either Obama or Palin will have that problem, even if they live well past age 70, barring unfortunate things like senility or Alzheimer's disease. As much as I dislike Sen. Ted Kennedy and his politics, I have to admire the way he has remained more or less in tune with the times, despite his age and literal brain damage. I guess the Kennedy name has helped carry him along, but like him or not, he deserves credit for being a skilled, savvy politician. Obama or Palin will probably do well in federal level politics for as long as he or she likes, whichever one is on the winning ticket this year.
I love the way you put that lol.
It makes me think about design. Sometimes it doesn't make any sense to persist with an old idea. Sometimes you have to wipe the board clear to get anything decent.
i guess im probably the oldest biker in my group(s),,, hahahahaha,, i hang out with several clubs,,,, i guess,,, only wear one set of colors,,,,
i was just thinking the other day as i rolled thru a stop sign,,, ive never seen a stop sign run over a scooter,,, therefore, they were nothing to be feared and could be disregarded,,,, its the oncoming cars you need to pay attention to,,, dont matter whos got the stop sign,,, its only a suggestion,,, to me.
throw a book at it,,,, hahahahahaha,,, maybe a wet book.
i was a volunteer fireman once,,, i got fired,,,,
worked in the oil field,,, and was not available for their meetings and such,,, it was that,,, i may have been to a couple of fires,,, not many,,, usually, again,,, wasnt available,,,
i guess the experienced firefighters were normally store owners in town,,, who were,,, well,,, always around and the store was closed when it was time to go to a meeting,,, i was usually out of town,, not many oil wells in town.
15 hr days were normal for me,,, so,,, well,,, hahahahahaha dont leave much time for socializing and talking about the last cotton bale we werent able to save,,, a cotton bale is hard to put out you know,,, dont care how much water you dump on it,,, and when you have to run back to town to fill up the truck,,, you kinda lose ground....
so which inexperience do you prefer?? my guess is ears,,, not me,,, the other one is a lot hotter,,, dont you think...
i was predicting ears to win,,, now i dunno,,, i changed my prediction... she may be inexperienced,,, somebody explained the meaning of a line item veto to her tho,,, which to the best of my knowledge is the greatest power a president weilds,,,,,
it aint like they make decisions,,, and shes not really running for president anyway,,,, yea,,, i pulled a kerny and did a flip flop,,, not on who ill vote for,,, as you know,, i dont vote,,, my prediction.
i think the dems are in trouble again,,, nobody really wants to raise taxes anyway do they?? except ears,,,, and some like him,, that benifit from higher taxes...
hahahaha,,, you know what my grandson told me the other day,,, or,,, it was in a post of his,,, he was rooting (hes too young to vote) for ears because ears was gonna cut taxes for everyone making under a hundred grand,,,, and raise taxes for everyone making over a hundred grand,,,
hahahahahaha,,,, if the dollar continues on its recent journey into oblivian,,, (it did make a partial comeback the other day against the peso) (which isnt saying a lot) if you aint making a hundred grand in a couple of years,,, you aint eating,,,,, sounds like smoke and mirrors to me,,, i mean,,, if you were gonna tax the rich and leave the little man alone,,,, a hundred grand??? hahahahaha
reminds me of ,,, drat,,, what was that movie,,, the one with mini me in it? dr evil,, or whoever he was,,, dr evil is in inspector gadget isnt he,, demanded a million dollars as payment for not doing something evil and was answered by laughter over the phone,,,,
yea,,, if thats true,,, about ears and the hundred grand,,, i dunno,,, i watched mcpow make his speach the other nite,,, the only part of the two conventions i saw,,,, (karla had my computer at the time) ears is either totally incompetent as well as inexperienced,,, or is trying to pull a fast one,,, where everyone will find themselves in a higher tax bracket,,, which do you think it is,,,, or is it even true?? like i said,,, i only have the statement of one of my grandkids....
Talking about politic, Malaysia politic kind of VERY HILARIOUS right now, almost all pociticians became a joker, a clown! Newspapers and TV full of their wicko jokes!
Hey, buddy, I hope all is well for you.
I'm not sure that your fire example works for the current situation. Obama's lack of experience in governing means that he can only think in abstract terms, and can only speak in subjunctive tense (I would). Sarah Palin's lack of experience is only an issue of time. She has had actual experience in leading with responsibility. She can speak in concrete terms, in the indicative tense (I did).
In firefighting, theories and new equipment are tested before being used in the field, so what you learn in books is not just theoretical, but practical. Obama's got no new practical tools that we know to be more effective than old ones, and no experience even using the old ones.
Experience can either give you wisdom or cynicism (maybe both). To jump over to the older guys, McCain is not using the same playbook that has been used forever by the Republicans. He co-authored, as you know, several bills and deals with oppositon party members. So his experience has not made him jaded and stuck in a rut, but willing to change with the times and comporomise when necessary. Biden has the experience of being the same as every other politician, voting along party lines, unwilling to compromise to get things done.
Comments are closed.