The Undo Button's Undoing
As Christmas - oh wait, I'm sorry, I mean, "the Holidays" - approaches, stores will be getting ready for post-Christmas returns. It happens every year; people return all those nice gifts that they don't want, but got because someone felt obligated to buy them something (and rightly so, because they'd be upset if they hadn't received something). If a store doesn't accept returns, they lose customers. Why? Well, we've accepted that the "undo" button is required in all aspects of life.
I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing. I've even used the undo button as I typed this. Efficiency and productivity have demanded that we should be able to undo our work on the computer. This increases both, and everyone benefits. Capitalism has made us demand that we should be able to return items in the same manner as they were bought so that we can purchase something else. Little harm is done, and the consumer benefits. Fine.
Unfortunately, this attitude is extended to other areas of life. From class action lawsuits to anti-war protests, Americans will not stand for anything going wrong. We will not accept that sometimes life... well... sucks, and that crap (except commonly expressed with another word) happens. We demand some form of undoing of bad things, unwilling to accept the here and now, causing our incessant perfectionism to make unrealistic expectations.
I write this because I am a perfectionist. Ironically, it is how I came to this realization. It's something I battle myself, but a very powerful principle, and something to remember during this season as we buy, receive, and return our gifts. There is no undo button in life. And until Christ's return, bad stuff... well... happens.
posted by Chris Hill @ 12/20/2006 04:11:00 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
I wish I could undo the personal statement recently sent to ohio state describing how much I want to go to minnesota. Whoops.....
You're probably surprised to learn that I agree with you. Also, there are costs to using the undo button that people don't realize until it's too late. Like divorce...it's an undo, but it usually costs you a house...unless you're a woman, in which case I guess you get rewarded with a house.
Tell me more about this statement sent to Ohio State.
While I agree that far too many Americans are inclined to sue over the most asinine things (my coffee was too hot and it burned my crotch when I spilled it, I'm suing), I don't completely agree with your sentiment. I think when facing what may amount to gross negligence that there must exist some way to bring a legal investigation of wrongdoing. I don't feel that our judicial system should be burdened by every Tom, Dick, or Jane that is just looking for a quick dollar, but if an honest problem exists it seems that sometimes litigation is the only way to go when all other options exhausted.
That being said, I bet you feel the same way, you were probably just venting frustration (I'm not even touching the anti-war protest bit). Merry Christmas to you and yours, I truly wish you all the best (and take care of that lovely wife of yours).
I wasn't speaking to all class-action lawsuits, only using them as an example of when the idea that nothing should go wrong causes problems. Accountability (or perhaps better stated as justice) cannot be thrown away. One errs, however, when they take the attitude that if anything bad happens to them, someone else must pay.
Merry Christmas to you too!
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