Phebe Phillips, subject of our Casualty of the Week feature on December 4, recounted her story of CPSIA travails in a commencement address at the Texas Women's University on May 14. In her address entitled "Everything is Perfect . . . I Changed!", Ms. Phillips discussed how the CPSIA forced her into her new career as a nutritionist after years of success as a toymaker. She sums up her journey: "I stand before you as an example that change will be with you your entire life, that one is never too old or set in their ideas to change and on occasion a glass of lemonade, made from life's lemons, can taste pretty good."
Life's lemons - that's a little harsh, isn't it, for something as wondrous as the CPSIA? I bet Mr. Waxman agrees with Ms. Phillips - if we would only relax, we would learn to really enjoy the CPSIA and its effect on our businesses and our lives. Look at all the benefits that Phebe Phillips experienced - it only drove her out of the business she started as a young graduate of Southern Methodist University in 1983 and out of the industry she loved so much. There is no sign that Ms. Phillips' products ever harmed a single child. Nonetheless, we can rejoice at how safe everyone is now . . . .
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
2 comments:
I hope that TWU asked for their money back; I mean, here's the commencement speaker talking about how her thirty-year-old business was wiped out by a foolish, panicked government overreaction. She did nothing wrong--in fact, nobody even suggested that she had done anything wrong! And yet she suddenly woke up one day and she was no longer able to be in business.
That's kind of exactly the opposite of an inspirational story!
@halojones - I don't know, I think she explained real world problems to a bunch of kids about to join the real world. Maybe, just maybe one of them will have the ability to make the necessary changes in the future this country desperately needs. I think she armed them with knowledge and maybe even "inspired" them to make changes. Time will tell.
Post a Comment