Reply #3: refreshing, isn't it! [View All]

[Lisa]

It seems society (and I'm including my own country of Canada as well) has a kind of double message about public service jobs. On the one hand, kids are given the Kennedyesque image of how noble and generous it is, to devote yourself to the public good (in politics, or in the civil or diplomatic service, legal system, or for that matter being a teacher, firefighter, soldier, etc.). And then there is this constant barrage of media stories and gossip about how lazy and greedy public service employees are ... how only losers get that kind of job, because they were turned down by the private sector "where the action is". And that a prosecutor or judge or ambassador is just in it for the salary/benefits, or is plain unfit to do "real" high-paid work.

I felt that pressure -- I and virtually my entire family work in the public sector. Sometimes it's been very painful to give polite and thoughtful answers when people are making nasty comments. When Al Gore kind of lost it and slammed those who sneered at "bureaucrats" -- like those who died at the federal building in Oklahoma City -- I was grateful that someone had said something. When I see people like Fitzgerald (and Ambassador Wilson, too) who are really top-notch and have so much integrity, it makes me feel inspired and gratified.