I was proud. I wore the U.S. Army uniform with honor and I knew that I would never find that sense of pride in the corporate world. I also knew that I would never join the Army, or move to Texas, because I had little respect for the U.S. government and I loved the ocean. I knew that the Stars and Bars represented soulless corporations and Texas was a desert, but the Army changed my perspective.
I learned that Old Glory is a portrait of everyone who has ever defended the maximization of individual freedom and the development of responsible government. I also learned that Texas is mostly brushy and that I can love Austin as much as I love the ocean. But the corporate world was still devoid or morality and I wouldn’t be proud to serve it.
Then I took a job at Apple and went to my first company meeting. Steve Jobs was taking questions from the audience and one guy said something like, “I know that Apple doesn’t get involved in political issues, but I was wondering if—“ Steve promptly interrupted, “Oh, do you mean Prop 8? Yeah, you’re going to be seeing Apple coming out against Prop 8.”
Proposition 8 was a California ballot proposition to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry. I didn’t know much about Apple, but I thought corporations avoided topics this contentious, so I was surprised by this CEO’s response. When he continued, “We don’t see this as a political issue, it’s a human rights issue,” my neck snapped back, my eyes widened, and a smile stretched across my face. I looked around the room to see the reactions of my peers just as one of them looked in my direction. I’ll call her Sara.
Sara and I started working at Apple on the same day, we were in the same new employee training class, and we had the same reaction to our CEO’s response. I barely knew her but as we looked at each other with wide-eyed smiles, I’m certain that we were saying, “Dude! This is awesome! I can’t believe we work here!” I don’t remember much else about that meeting. I think Steve was wearing a black turtle neck and talking about technology or something, but I can’t be sure.
The whole thing left me a bit choked up and a surprisingly pleasant reality sunk into my bones (reality is usually kind of a bastard). It was a brief moment, a quick exchange between a two people whom I would never meet about a topic that doesn’t immediately affect my life, but that moment had a significant impact on me. I knew that I worked with awesome people but I didn’t expect any of them to share my level of excitement about our company’s commitment to equality — but they did —. I supported marriage equality but had never thought to consider it as a “human right” — but it was, and I was grateful for the new perspective. I successfully transitioned to a civilian corporation but I never thought I would be proud to be a part of it – but I was – and that really pulled on my feely strings.
I’ll proudly walk with Apple in Austin’s Pride Parade this Saturday. I’ll proudly wear a U.S. flag pin on my hat as well.
Cheers,
Stupidgregg
