It's From the Top Down...

 The guy that inspects local restaurants for the health department is quite eloquent when reporting his (or her) findings. These reports sometimes take almost a full page of the paper each week they are published. Some establishments have zero violations. I eat out often and I can usually make an educated guess about whether a place would or would not have violations of the health code which may not really have anything to do with how good the food is. There is though one thing in common in these negative reports. 

The first complaint is usually, "must have onsite manager." That means there is no one present at the top to educate employees that there should be no slime in the ice machine, that the drink nozzles do not have black mold and that food is not stored next to chemicals. I mean this should be common sense but some one has to get the ball rolling, a manager that knows stuff and I can only imagine how this is going to go when the department of education is eliminated. 

Back about the turn of the century there was one summer Cathy and Mary got involved in Taekwondo. They went crazy working out and going to tournaments and Morgan and I decided if we were going to see them again we better participate also. This turned into about a 12 year run for me and many personal successes for all of us with the kids working teaching martial arts while in college. Cathy and I also taught a bit. 

Parents brought their kids to the school because they heard all about how Taekwondo was good for increasing physical activity, discipline, attention span and perseverance. That's all correct but one thing that was glaringly apparent was if the parent did not have these things an instructor teaching a class 45 minutes a couple of times a week was not going to instill them. Sure some of these kids got a black belt but for great success you must lead from the top down. An instructor could tell what it was like for a kid at home. With good groundwork by parents kids took to martial arts like a duck to water. 

I could not help but notice this week how President Trump criticized an Episcopal Bishop in her appeal for him to show mercy for marginalized people. She was leading from the top down. Trump also leading from the top down rejected one of the main ideas of Christianity and called her tone "nasty." 

How long before you are at a restaurant, find a fly in your soup and when brought to the waiter's attention they say, "nasty in tone, not compelling or smart" remember, before you resort to Taekwondo it all starts at the top.