I have to admit that I don’t know if I’ve heard any metaphors used on a regular basis. I KNOW of a metaphor, however, that I’ve found incredibly fitting for a while now: a certain WTF jar that resides in the Science Department. The object of the jar is that every time one experiences a WTF moment at the college, we’re supposed to add money to the jar.
When a biology professor started the jar, we thought we would take the money collected and have some kind of party after awhile. I think we were hoping to discover some redemption amidst all of the insanity that kept happening around us. Unfortunately, more senseless decisions and events kept happening than we could keep up with. I personally owe the jar more cash than is currently in my savings account. I lost track a long time ago.
And that’s what faculty, staff, and many administrators do at LCC: Try to figure out WTF happened because so little makes sense. Sadly, many of us gave up putting money in the jar since we also gave up trying to make sense of things.
When I finally sorted out the cause of what was happening around me, I did reach one clear conclusion that I expressed as a metaphor on Facebook: It is impossible to build bridges when you’re asked to work with people who want to build kingdoms.