In this case, and it must be understood in this case only, I have to admit that I have committed some mistakes, dictated by my personal and uncontrollable presumption.
However, to discover what these are, you have to read on and above all have the patience to do so.
Full of bravado, I immediately answered (affirmatively, of course) when someone, under pressure to fill the in-house magazine, eagerly asked me to write some- thing.
I thought it could be nice and useful for everyone to try and describe what we all think and what we don’t have the courage to say about the mistakes made by others.
Unfortunately, I realized, a little late to tell the truth, that mine was not only a gesture of sheer presumption, but also of superficiality, because I had not taken a series of elements into consideration.
Above all I found out, to my great regret, that rumours spread much faster than thoughts. In addition, the speed at which they spread grows exponentially as the number of people in the group of reference increas- es. Lastly, by emphasizing the confidentiality of the subject the speed can be further increased.
In short, very soon afterwards, I found myself in front of the Boss who was
giving instructions on my article for the magazine whilst my dreams of being able to write quite a few things with a certain free- dom were shattered once and for all against a sad and crude reality.
My intentions to write it all under a nom de plume, so that I could state thoughts that would not be distorted by opinions on who generated it, had come to nothing.
I had been wrong again this time: I tried to set forth some of the contents but I real- ized that I had no hope, as my ideas only had meaning to the extent that they were the result of my approach. As though that were not enough, the Boss would certainly have used them for his own ends, pace my best intentions: to show that the company is alive and kicking and that anyone’s opinion can find adequate space.
In short, writing this article, I would show that I am totally wrong and on the contrary I would prove the vitality of the entire group.
But there was worse still: it could be interpreted as toadying up to the boss and in any case there was bound to be someone who would have taken the umpteenth opportunity to insult me in one way or another. It’s better to drop this clumsy attempt and go back to my job, in the hope that some concreteness can certainly be more useful.
