What a noble aspiration to act under the belief, “That if you had more you could always get by with less.” One I find very hard to live up to.

In the workplace, I hate to assume responsibility for decisions I did not make. I’m not talking about anything illegal. I’m talking about the daily harms people inflict on others — particularly those over whom they hold power.

There is an industry around how to confront such situations but let’s admit there are people and events we cannot change.

Having no participation or influence over the decision, I want to stay out of it.

But as a human being of good will I have to acknowledge harm and live with my action or inaction in the face of it.

So what can you do when you have no means within your role or recourse to outside authority?

Consider the person and respond as an individual. Give of your personal time and resources.

I aspire to this and very often fall short. But I am challenged and inspired by an absurd and beautiful Japanese children’s character.

I am also inspired by the actions of others including my wife, Kathie, my former employer, Peter, and my friend and co-worker, Luke. Small, extraordinary acts of good will by good people.

Thanks for the idea to The Pragmatic Programmers and their ridiculous lava lamps. My co-worker Kris wrote a custom publisher to integrate CruiseControl with the nabaztag api.

“A little nonsense, now and then, is relished by the wisest men” — Willy Wonka