Collins Report

By Bruce Karlson

Principal Jones is told that Sally has a knife in her car. Her car is searched against her will (which is legal!!) and a paring knife is found under the front seat. Sally explains that her mother used the car to deliver some food that weekend and the knife must have slipped under the seat.

Sally is a “A” student, runs track, and has been accepted at several respected colleges, one of which she plans on attending the following year.
Simultaneously, Fred who is a sophomore at 18, having recently been released from juvenile detention drops his switchblade inadvertently. His demeanor suggests that he is loaded on “uppers” and has, in the brief time since his return, been in two fights.

Three Navy special operators pick up an Iraqi murderer whom they had been tracking for years. Said murderer whines about a broken lip, claiming he has been abused while in captivity.
A soldier systematically beats a cuffed prisoner until forcibly pulled off by other soldiers.

The individuals responsible for handling these cases are all in executive positions. Executive compensation is geared to knowledge, of course, but is more heavily weighted by judgment. Essentially any fool can read, or have read to him/her, a list of rules and regulations. This same person can then check the list against the circumstance and identify the connection. This is not very different from a postal clerk advising the correct postage or a counter worker redeeming a coupon.

The aforementioned clerks do not differentiate among customers and all receive the same treatment; they are not expected and not even permitted to make judgments. We would expect that they would treat all incidents and individuals equally.
Government school principals and senior military officers, however, are paid more as they are supposed to use knowledge and judgment in discharging their responsibilities. All four of the persons involved in these examples can be confident, however, that no judgment will be applied.

The school principal will refer to the 150 page “code of conduct” (itself a vehicle by which to avoid responsibility) handed out on the first day of school and expel both Sally and Fred. A pansy flag officer, concerned with PC, will refer the case to the legal process. In neither case do these persons demonstrate any reason to be in executive positions.
If either were earning his/her pay, Sally would get a warning and the Special Ops troops’ leadership team would get a serious look to determine what happened and, in any case, handle it absent legal process. Nevertheless, it is more convenient to throw the troops to the wolves and stifle careers. That ensures that no one can accuse said pansies of judgment. God forbid that anyone discriminate among persons or things.
The net: Sally loses her ROTC scholarship (more lack of judgment), Fred is picked up on an outstanding warrant and the Special Ops troops are all forced out of the Navy.

Both the principal and the flag officer head off to lunch to calculate how much their cost of living raise will be next year…
Pray for our nation as that may offer our only hope.

About Bruce Karlson: Born New Jersey, enlisted in the Navy 1960, discharged in 1964, Kean College – BA, Fordham University – MBA. Sold computers in NYC’s financial district, retired 1992. Divorced, two high school aged children. Interests include bridge, history, politics and cooking.

This day in history December 5:

1933 Prohibition in the United States ends as Utah becomes the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment , thus establishing the required 75% of states needed to enact the amendment which overturned the 18th Amendment that had made the manufacture, sale, or transportation of alcohol illegal in the United States.

Comments on this or any other Collins Report essay can be sent to kcoachc “at” gmail.com