A pickle.
It’s a small cucumber that’s preserved in brine or vinegar, but a ‘pickle’ can also be a difficult or messy situation, like when something’s a real pickle… or when someone’s in a real pickle.
An airline canceling most of its flights on the busiest travel days… that’s a real pickle, when travelers are stuck at airports, trying to figure out if they’ll ever reach their dream vacation destinations.
How do pickles happen?
You know that old saying about where the buck stops? What’s fascinating about pickles, is the human factor… when someone in command, at a business firm or an entire nation, strongly influences mostly everything, including outcomes. Outcomes are ‘X’s in equations, as a major airline’s CEO may be all too aware, with news media covering what’s being described as his airline’s major meltdown.
Pickles happen.
There’s been much news about asylum seekers, fleeing to America from what has been described as ‘hellish’ countries. How do some nations become hellish?
All it takes, it often seems, are individuals… in command of countries, ignoring potential pickles… like major violations of human rights. That’s just one example.
“When will they ever learn,” we might be wondering, as we’re recalling that lyrical question, in songwriter Pete Seeger’s 1960s-era song, ‘Where Have All the Flowers Gone’.
And, speaking of… the news and politics website, Salon, was wondering “Will she ever learn?”… in an article about Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, who was harshly criticized by a constituent in a letter on Christmas day in the Durango Herald.
“Boebert, along with fellow GOP Congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida, refused to stand or applaud during (Ukraine president) Zelensky’s address to Congress”… according to the article. “Boebert’s behavior has ‘once again embarrassed her 3rd Congressional District constituents and the entire country,’” noted the constituent in her letter/ She went on to suggest the congresswoman “clearly is on the wrong side of history.”
With her slim margin of victory in mind — only a few hundred votes in the November midterm election — maybe disrespecting the Ukrainian president was an avoidable pickle for the frequently flamboyant Rep. Boebert.
Harvey Radin is former senior vice president in charge of corporate communications and media relations, Bank of America Western Region. He makes his home in Redwood City, CA.