The Three Machines

It's taken me a few weeks to get into words the reasons around my leaving the company that has helped me grow over the last two and a half years, but I think I've finally managed to get it.

If you look at it all in the right light, there are really only three machines in the world: One that works to make the world better, another to make it worse, and a third that is essentially neutral. I'd always known that in working for an advertising company I was not a cog in the Good machine, probably not even the Neutral one -- but despite all that is wrong with advertising, I never felt that my company was playing an important role in the Bad machine... That is, I felt this way until I discovered we were running recruitment ad campaigns for the U.S. Navy.

At this point, my employer showed me and the rest of the world that it was willing to be a "greater cog" in the machine that is working in opposition to the forces that try to do Good in the world and that was something I couldn't be a part of. You can help recruit people to kill other people in an illegal war, but I won't help you do it. And so, I gave my resignation today.

I've accepted a job at a larger company which, to the best of my own research is playing an active role in either the Neutral or Good machines and better yet, they're offering me a great opportunity to learn a lot of interesting things. It's been a wonderful two and a half years here, but on a matter of principle, my choice was clear.