Mandatory & definitions?

"Mandatory"

What does this word mean anymore?

Main Entry: ¹man·da·to·ry
Pronunciation: 'man-d&-"tor-E
Function: adjective
1 : containing or constituting a command

OK...
That is a nice definition, but what is a mandatory? Is it something that is an absolute, or else? Is someone going to fire me if I don't go to a "Mandatory" meeting? What if I'm sick, is that acceptable or grounds for termination? Or is mandatory a word that just means "more than important"?

I challenge the word mandatory, I challenge the idea of what it means pushes in business. To me, it means that someone will reign down fire "On Me'' if I don't do something that is mandatory. Is that how you see it? Should we have a word like that in business or can we successfully get by without it? Even though we have such a nice definition up top, we all make up or skew words to mean what we want. That's all words are in the first place aliases to emotions, feelings, and ideas.

We need to have proper (and common) definitions (The boss needs to state what his definition of words are and then he needs to properly communicate them to others). If a boss does not inform his employees of his thoughts and definitions of certain words, they wouldn't know which "mandatory" to follow, his or theirs...

Challenge the dictionary, challenge your teachers, challenge your parents, challenge your bosses...think for and push yourself...