'Stuff' happens

G. GEORGE OSTROM / For the Hungry Horse News

It was a shock enough the first time he said it, THEN, he repeated something similar on the following nights. NBC Anchor, Brian Williams, began the July 5 Evening World News covering the oil spill by sadly stating, "No one down there asked for this." On the 6th it was even sadder, "No one down there did anything to deserve this."

Do not know how others felt, but those statements from a man in such a responsible position seemed insulting to me … and of course d-u-m-b, dumb. Since that oil disaster erupted weeks ago, I have not heard one person in my neighborhood, not one downtown, and not one out in the boonies, who said, "Those people down there deserved this."

What was Williams trying to accomplish? Can anyone conceive any kind of answer that makes sense? If he and/or his writers were trying to whip up extra sympathy for those most directly affected, it was not a thoughtful idea. It was not classic news reporting. It was soap opera.

Each and every one of us personally know of folks who've had to undergo, or who are working through, bad and unexpected events they did not "deserve" … or "ask for." Think about millions of others around the world who have dealt with, or are now dealing with, daunting situations beyond their influences or control.

"Stuff" happens, Brian. Deal with it … in a professional and positive manor.

The Gulf oil disaster is an awful thing, and the one benefit that must come from it is a vital lesson for drilling companies regarding technical short cuts they are tempted to use in meeting the world's incessant demand for oil. "We" didn't "ask for this," but perhaps "we" contributed. Whenever we get ready to fill the tank, "we all want fuel in the pumps."

That is probably enough 'serious' for this week. Let's go to Norway where the Norskies have worked diligently to meet the deadline when 40 percent of all major company board members had to be women. According to a report in Parade Magazine, the law passed in the 2002 Parliament with a six-year deadline and business leaders say they have done it. There was a drop in the value of some companies but supporters say that is due to the new ladies' lack of experience, not their gender; regardless, the idea is spreading and Spain has called for the same standards to be in place by 2015, while other European countries are considering it. Right now, 15 percent of the directors for top "U.S. companies are women, ahead of the 9.7 averages in European nations

Here is a challenge for you ambitions young males. Professor Amy Dittmar of the University of Michigan's business school says studies indicate "U.S. companies with greater numbers of female executives and directors tend to outperform their competitors." (We are left to assume "their competitors' have a higher ratio of male executives.)

After being exposed to all this, I've gotten bogged down in deep pondering, "What is a 'major' or 'top' company?" "Who set that forty percent figure for the Norwegian companies?" "Why didn't they make it fifty-fifty?" "What percent of the Parliament is female?" "Will there be proof-of-sex tests like in the Olympics?"

Have decided! My life would be far less complicated if I could just stop reading, and completely skipped … the evening news.

G. George Ostrom is a Kalispell resident and a national award-winning Hungry Horse News columnist.