There are very few absolutes in life, especially in practical matters. However, a few absolutes that come to mind are:
1. There is absolutely no safe way to take the temperature of an angry dog.
2. Never, no matter what, take a laxative and a sleeping pill at the same time (more on this topic in a later blog post).
3. Never argue with customs officials.
I recently violated number three above. While waiting in line for my turn at passport control, I noticed that the customs officers were challenging what people said when asked "what is your reason for entering Canada?" Canadians tend to be rather polite folk, so I assume that there was some grand reason for this mild interrogation. When my turn finally came, the officer asked me my purpose for entering Canada and I said (quite truthfully, in case this is being read by customs officials) that I was entering Canada to teach and speak on the topic of Taxonomy Governance as a means to improve organizational communication and information management.
He gave me a fairly routine challenge by saying "Ah, Taxonomies are a waste of time aren't they?" or words to that affect. If you know me at all then you know that I really, truly, passionately, and deeply believe in the importance of clear and open information flow. I also passionately believe that a policy taxonomy is the best means for making this happen. Like Pavlov's dog, I vigorously educated him on the importance of taxonomies, the wisdom and dignity of the average worker, and the right to be correctly heard and understood in an organizational context. I went on at some length in my very best evangelist mode. It was pretty horrifying to suddenly realize that I was arguing with a customs official while standing in jurisdictional limbo. My eyes bugged out a bit as I quickly closed my mouth and said a feeble "sorry!" He got a big grin on his face and said "I guess you really are here to talk about taxonomies, whatever they are." (or words to that affect) He then loudly stamped my passport, letting me into the country.
©Copyright Mark Ragar Schneider, 2009 All Rights Reserved
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