OneVoice - March 9, 2008
March 9th, 2008 | by Tom |I recently returned from a business trip to Bangalore, India (I go to India three or four times a year). I always leverage the hotel’s car service to take me where I need to go. The drivers all have the same script: “Is the air conditioning comfortable?” “Is this your first trip to Bangalore?” “Would you like to hear some music?”
When I had responded “yes” to the music question in the past, the drivers would usually turn on a radio station of “western” music, often a mix of overplayed hip-hop. This time, Vasanth, who drove me virtually the entire week, selected a CD mix of his own making. The first song that came out of the speakers was the Foo Fighters’ All My Life. How did Vasanth know I would like the Foos? I’m 49 years old, my hair is pretty gray … how did he know the Foos is one of my favorite bands?
The other songs on the CD weren’t as impressive as the first - Rhianna’s Umbrella, Hey There Delilah, Sean Kingston’s Beautiful Girl - nothing you would ever catch me adding to my iPod. The first day, the CD also included Sheryl Crow’s song God Bless this Mess, the one where she criticizes George Bush for getting us into the war in Iraq. While I didn’t outwardly say anything, I wondered whether that was an appropriate choice, not so much for inclusion on the mix CD, but rather for playing it while I was in the car. For Vasanth, whose livelihood depends on the gratuities he receives for the service he provides, playing this song for a Bush supporter could have cost him a tip.
I’m not a Bush supporter, so it didn’t cause me to reduce my tip. But, I never heard that song for the rest of the trip. No matter how many times he played that CD for the rest of my trip (and I never want to hear that Beautiful Girl song again - repeating the word suicidal in the chorus is a huge turn-off), God Bless this Mess was not to be heard. Did Vasanth put his politics aside in pursuit of a few extra rupees?
Put aside your core political beliefs for some kind of gain - what a novel idea! Where have we seen that happen in the U.S. political arena, not just in the current campaign but for virtually all of my adult life? For Vasanth, this was an easy decision to make. His views of U.S. politics, while important to him, weren’t worth the potential reduction in his compensation.
Each of the presidential candidates will, in some way, shape or form, be asked to compromise on their core beliefs to better appeal to groups who wouldn’t ordinarily vote for them. Some of these compromises will make them better leaders; others may turn them into the very person we didn’t want to vote for. It will be interesting to see where each one lands by the end of this long campaign.
Tags: OneVoice
