THE TIE

I had a personal experience not very long ago dealing with the whoring of America. It angered me, and I felt as though there was no way to win against it. I cannot say I DID win, but I sure did not lose, either. The final score was Bedazzzled1 with one point...corporate whores with one point. Gee, I have to say I was pretty darn proud of myself.
I will be deliberately vague explaining it, but that is my right. After all, that has not been taken away from me by Time Warner (yet). Also, the story is an extremely personal one. Specifying names is not necessary to get across my point. It most assuredly happened, and it is completely true.
Once upon a time there was a man who worked at a bigggggg university. He really wanted to build a brand new multimillion dollar state-of-the-art facility to replace a similar one that did not have quite all the bells and whistles. It was to be one of the finest in this country. His rationale was that bigger means better and better draws more people and more people means more money coming in to the school.
Finding the other big wigs at the university to back his idea was a piece of cake. All they needed to do was figure out how to fund such a venture. And that is when they decided to whore out every part of the structure to anyone with enough money to buy it. Price tags were put on virtually anything associated with it. Construction commenced.
The big boys with their big wallets bought up the things with the hefty price tags. Those would be things like naming rights to the entire facility. Get the picture now? More and more such things were bought up, all so they could plaster the names of their companies on them. No big deal. Right?
WRONG. It was not okay with this broad...and not with quite a few other people who found the pimping ignored some of the rich history and tradition of the university in its efforts to fund this huge structure. Without the contributions (nonmonetary) and accomplishments of certain individuals, that big new structure would never have been an idea in anyone's brain. There was an outcry from groups of folks over that aspect. Naming rights for anything had to be BOUGHT even for the name of someone who was one of the main reasons, if not THE reason, success and prominence had come to the university in that particular area. Screw that.
I was disgusted. I had seen how other colleges had junked up every square inch of their allegedly beautiful buildings with advertising banners. Then to learn that there was not even going to be a gratis pass for the gentleman responsible for having the school be nationally recognized? Oh wait, there was to be a room with his name put on it where alumni could gather. Sorry, not good enough for me or for others. His name really should be slapped on the part of this giant structure that was his forte...his shining moments. But, alas, the tacky people who owned numerous companies and corporations felt it was more appropriate to honor their DISCOUNT FURNITURE STORE. Oh yes.......class just oozes out of their every pore, eh?
I began what I call a pen pal relationship with the man who had the idea to build this potential white elephant. I carefully penned my words to him after much thought. I listed the many reasons why I felt the gentleman I knew deserved more than a room in a massive structure. I received a letter in return detailing the costs of such a vast undertaking and the necessity for sponsors to help defray the expense. Okay, thanks. I responded by pointing out how in similar situations when new buildings were constructed that a person was honored by having the facility called by his/her name. We went back and forth like this for a time. It was always kept civil, even friendly. We began to occasionally speak on the phone about it, too. It all boiled down to the almighty dollar. To hell with tradition. To hell with history. To hell with anything that kept another buck from finding its way into the coffers of the university. Yet this man had nothing but the highest regard for the gentleman I knew.
I persisted. I told you I am one persistent woman. I was not lying. ::grin:: The day arrived when I felt a fair deal had been struck. I received a phone call from the man telling me he had awakened in the middle of the nite with what he felt was a perfect solution...and it had no price tag attached to it. I was all ears. (Let me just state here that money was not really the object when it came to honoring the gentleman in some prominent way. Principle was the issue. And principle defined the gentleman. To pay for him to be honored would have been whoring at its worst. Something he would have never tolerated.) The Board of Trustees had the final say in the approval of his idea, but he felt certain it would be passed unanimously. I was quite pleased, and I awaited his next phone call informing me whether it received a thumbs up or down from that unpredictable group.
All thumbs were up. And I was beyond excited. Now there is a road bearing the name of the distinguished, successful, kind, and decent man that runs parallel to this new building and leads to other roads. It is not just a short little street, and it regularly gets a hefty amount of traffic. But the joy for me is to see the street signs at the beginning and end of this wide road. For they hold the name of that wonderful man. And it is as it should be.
Let the big boys pimp out themselves. No one attending any function in that monster facility is going to buy discount furniture because the name of the store is written across a large portion of it. But EVERYONE will notice the name of the road they HAVE to take to get to the function and the functions taking place further down the road. ::big smile::
Yep, Bedazzzled1 was pleased with the outcome.
"Advertising is legalized lying." ~ H.G. Wells