The Well
Jethro
Are you living, working and playing well? Is a college degree, 500+ Connections or nepotism required to do things “well?” How much does it cost you to live, work and play “well?” What is your definition of “well?”
Oxford languages defines a well as an adverb, meaning in a good or satisfactory way or in a thorough manner, or as an adjective signifying in good health, free or recovered from illness or sensible and advisable… and the British use “well” to signal the place in a court of law where the clerks and ushers sit. Cheers! Oxford is of course, correct and we all use “well” often. “How are you doing today?” “I am doing well thank you for asking”
Could “well” mean something more than a state of health or a place to sit in a courtroom? We think so and hope you might, as well 😊!
Live well
In addition to the adverb and adjective usage of “well,” when Perle thinks of the word “well,” we may also think about a person named Jethro, who he represented and what he stood for. Jethro? Who is Jethro???
Friends, this month’s well is dedicated to all Jethros and Jethrettes!
Jethro is an average person, an everyman/woman, and is our good friend, but hold on…… Jethro is pure fiction. Jethro is just a character; a cast member of a hit television series that aired from 1961-1971, that followed the Clampetts family from the Ozark mountains in Arkansas to the posh Beverly Hills suburb in California after the impoverished family, struck oil (“black gold”), by accident when Jethro’s uncle Jed, shot at a rabbit and instead discovered oil on his land. The Clampetts became millionaires. That’s right, remember the Beverly Hillbillies (“BH”)? The BH ranked among the top 20 most-watched programs on television during its first two seasons with 16 episodes that still remain among the 100 most-watched television episodes in American history.
Ok, we digress. Back to the Ozarks where a surveyor for the OK Oil Company realizes the size of the oil field, and the company pays Jed a fortune for the right to drill on his land. Patriarch Jed’s cousin Pearl Bodine prods him to move to California after being told his modest property could yield $25 million (equivalent to $214 million these days), and pressures him into taking her son Jethro along; the hillbillies boast of Jethro’s 6th grade education. The family moves into a mansion in well-thy (oops, we meant to write wealthy) Beverly Hills, next door to Jed’s new banker, Milburn Drysdale, and his wife, Margaret, who has zero tolerance for hillbillies (we suspect zero tolerance for anyone who is different…in any way and who may have more “well-th” than she. How dare they…how did “they” do this? I am confused…this is not happening…I’ll put a stop to that, no matter what!
With its seven Emmy nominations during its run, it remains in syndicated reruns. The Clampett clan: Family-oriented. Basic. Simple but not stupid! Straightforward. Hard-working. Proud to be who they are. Not judgmental of city-folk and in fact happy to be among folk of a different culture. Poor hillbillies from the mountains. The Clampetts: from Ozark who happen to be dirt poor until they were dirt rich. From the Clampett Ozark impoverished hills to Beverly posh Hills and completely non-judgmental and absolutely well-meaning. The Clampetts were a happy clan. How did the Clampetts define “well?” We wonder…
“the clampetts bring a moral, unsophisticated, and minimalistic lifestyle to the swanky, sometimes self-obsessed and superficial community. Double entendres and cultural misconceptions are the core of the sitcom's humor. Plots often involve drysdale's outlandish efforts to keep the clampetts' money in his bank, and his wife's efforts to rid the neighborhood of "those hillbillies". The family's periodic attempts to return to the mountains are often prompted by granny's perceiving a slight from one of the "city folk” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/the_beverly_hillbillies
The Clampetts, fictional as they were, were themselves; natural (minimalistic), humble, respectful and compassionate (moral / principled) and as many “Plots [as the Clampett’s faced] thanks to the sad Drysdale's with their efforts to rid the neighborhood of "those hillbillies," the family's periodic attempts to return to the mountains are often prompted by Granny's perceiving a slight from one of the "city folk".
Were the Clampetts Drysdale wealthy? The Clampetts were enormously well-thy BEFORE and certainly after Jed struck oil; Were the Clampetts rich in family love? CHECK! Family loyalty? CHECK!! Pride and confidence? CHECK, CHECK, CHECK!!! Interested about others and other cultures? Wanting to immerse themselves in those new cultures? No doubt! Motivated, self-sufficient, and hard working? Absolutely! From impoverished to posh, the Clampetts did not need to pack a thing when they drove across country; what they needed they had. They may have stumbled about, may have been anxious and understood that they were not exactly welcome in the ‘hood. They had a right to live free and as posh as they could afford (which was a LOT) and to withstand Drysdale forces that did all they could to interrupt, disrupt, confuse, mock and ridicule them because the Clampetts were born with a natural well of everything good, smart (enough), kind, compassionate, resilient, respectful and most certainly humble...and so are YOU!
Work well
“The people that you work with are, when you get down to it, your very best friends.” The office.
To collaborate with other human beings, to overcome challenges; to do so exemplifies what it means to be alive…to live and work well!!! Because doing so is in yours, mine and our genes; This is what it means to be American!
We think that every human being born and yet to be born, comes into being with an unending, natural, bottomless and overflowing well of good spirit, kindness, compassion, resilience, respect, intellect…no matter the age, race, religion, gender, color, ability or orientation. Your well is personal, you own your well. Your well is priceless and only you….only you have the power to either deposit or withdraw from your well.
Now don’t get us wrong…we are just like you, and ALL of us paint the perfect and true picture of what makes us The United States. Our melting pot rich with its tapestry of cultures and colors. The United States; our incredible and enviable nation, with all of its blessings and burdens, curses and comforts, including the American workplace.
Absolutely every human being in America has the same power to pivot one’s own perspective (we simply call this “People Power”) and to draw from your resilience well, when another person’s perspective has gone mad! You have a problem in the workplace? Your well is overflowing with solutions, good favor and “currency” at the ready for you to deposit, deposit and deposit until it’s quittin’ time! Your well is overflowing and everyone needs a hand sometimes, so you recognize accessible and confidential resources to bounce something off of. You recognize the resources You have a lot of power friends…work it!
We ask ourselves, is accomplishing the goal more important than engaging or succumbing to rude, disgusting, hurtful, noxious, sexist, racist remarks and workplace or recreational behavior that might be inconsistent with your values, office rules or goodness me…the law? DIP INTO YOUR WELL OF humor, smiles., strength, intelligence, good sense, ability to see your big picture, so you can continue to cash your paycheck, earn “good behavior” points, get that promotion, protect your reputation, etc??? Unseal your well cap; your well is always waiting for you to let your goodness and tolerance flow!
Imagine an office Drysdale’s utter frustration to continually and consistently while they drawn in your well! Your “well-thy” humor, Well-thy kindness, “well-thy intellect, “well-thy office participations and leadership? Let your well spring forward like a geyser and dunk those office Drysdales until they are sick with envy, as you smile all the way to your own well with lots of goodwill and emotional intelligence currency, ready for another well deposit, with interest!
You are in total charge of your well, so breathe, think, unseal your cap and let it flow…
You have the power to allow any crazy workplace behavior sink to the bottom of YOUR well and at the end of the day. Know. That. YOU. Did. WELL. You made deposits to your well All. Day. Long!!!!! And that Drysdale is still gurgling and gasping for air out of embarrassment, frustration and pathetic insecurity.
Play well
Phew! It is work to continually make your well deposits but it sure is nice to return home with a barrel full of well-th!!!. Surviving in the workplace is a workout in and of itself.
In 2021, the Harvard business review published a study that there is more to human existence than work; it is clear that if we’re are going to devote a third of our adult lives to our jobs, it is quite helpful to find them meaningful. We can embrace the fact that we are living in a gigantic experiment where technology and what we used to call a workplace no longer have any limitations. We can instead focus on human needs and wants to stay healthy, productive, creative, social, and inspired.
Author, professor and speaker Gianpiero Petriglieri pointed out, for all the talk of the future of work, the real reason we’ll go back to the office is a cocktail of 50% social pleasure and 50% social pressure. We want to see people, and we don’t want them not to see us. Did you read that? Social pleasure? Does that mean we can go out and play now?
Albright friends, we think that you deserve a break! So on our note of collaboration, let’s end with a note of collaboration and relaxation with a bit more bluegrass with a touch of Grammy winning R&B, two of America’s earliest musical traditions…Hey, should Perle mix its own soundtrack?