Blake Dowling
Legislative Session is winding down – gaming, dope, infrastructure, assistive tech.
It has been an exciting journey, with losers and winners, fights, name calling at the Capitol and at the Governors Club.
Hopefully, when the dust settles, those in the trenches can regain some commonality and remember we are all on the same team as both Floridians and Americans (minus the UF-FSU rivalry, we will never be on the same team there).
Besides that, it’s time for summer. Time to move efforts to other things.
I work with a lot of associations and lobbyists, all running in high gear as of late.
Last night, a few website issues were needing immediate attention; that’s done.
Today, a conference room telecom gear is on the fritz (on the list for today); can’t send emails with a 1 TB attachment (no you can’t do that); my wireless network has 300 guests (yep, that’s bad); my laptop is in the pool (waterproof, no; backed up, yes).
It’s an endless list, but a pleasure to serve. Beats working for Corrine Brown.
From where I sit, I can see several interesting things on how the business of the day at the Capitol (and beyond) is carried out.
How did people get anything done in May 1845, during the first meeting of the Florida Legislative body?
I bet it was hot; lots of sweaty people with no AC. But it was also awesome.
We rely on technology so much, for better or for worse. Take it away, what do you have? Face to face interaction.
We as citizens of 2017 are faced with this every day, with friends, constituents and families. How many times this week have you said, I shot them a text or email? In the old days, it was face to face, think even pre-phone.
Few things are more powerful than the written word. I still send handwritten thank yous.
When I was 10, my dad gave me my first cardstock from Brooks Brothers. I was told to always say thanks to people when they do something for you. Message heard. I still do it, Pops.
(There is a great scene in the Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou about cardstock. If you missed it, it’s a must-watch.)
As we roll out of Session mode with families and colleagues, let’s put the phones down. Have lunch, a cocktail, no devices at the family dinner table. Am I right?
Let’s make Happy Hour great again, with some face-to-face time.
When we are old and gray, we will not remember texts and emails (unless you were a hacked DNC employee last year), but we will remember the time spent face-to-face with those in our personal and professional lives.
Let’s flash back to 1930 Florida.
Florida was a mess. Unemployment was on the rise, tourism was plummeting (they needed a Pitbull concert, maybe).
Annual visits were down from 3 million a year to 1 million a year. Florida had its own economic collapse in 1926; another one in 1929 was merely par for the course.
War was looming, after supporting Hoover in 28’ Florida switched sides in 32’ and supported Roosevelt. The conservatives were nervous about his reform plans but needed change.
Tourists weren’t coming; banks were closing.
Funny how with technology everything has changed. But the words don’t change.
Right, left, change, reform, etc
In 1930, they sweated it out, wrote letters, had runners, did not email 1TB worth of videos, they met face to face and talked the New Deal, the Depression, the Bankhead-Hone Farm Tenant Act. They talked a lot about aviation. At the time, Florida was the place for training: Drew and McDill bases in Tampa, Dale Mabry in Tallahassee (someone found WWII era undetonated ordinance from this station just last year), Eglin, Mayport in Jax.
Even the RAF moved into Arcadia at UM for training.
We could talk all day about then versus now, but on with the business at hand.
Put down those phones, give thanks to those who fought the good fight this legislative session, and thanks to those sweaty legislators who got us through the really rough times of World War II and the Depression – all without cell phones.
Here’s to all of those in public service, and all of those involved in The Process.
It’s great to be an American.
“In these days of difficulty, we Americans everywhere must and shall choose the path of social justice…, the path of faith, the path of hope, and the path of love toward our fellow man.”
― Franklin D. Roosevelt
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Blake Dowling is CEO of Aegis Business Technologies and can be reached at [email protected] .
