January 2007 Archives
Every society honors its live conformists and its dead trouble makers.
—M. McLaughlin
Idealism and youth perpetuate risk and adventure. As time passes, wisdom may view risk with trepidation, shelving adventure in favor of security. Choosing the predictable over the unknown buys us comfort and sadly, mediocrity. The side effect is complacency, compromise and a willingness to play nice with others to gain love and acceptance; or stay in favor with the boss and keep our jobs in spite of true feelings. The human physiology is unforgiving to the conscious disservice of self expression—heartburn, acid reflux and even heart disease is the punishment meted out to those who would forsake what they know is right for the path of least resistance. We call it swallowing your pride, but it’s more like erasing a bit of your soul if you are an artist.
Consensus is a necessary evil for politicians; that’s their job, but how much compromise is acceptable in performance as a designer before you’re not doing your job? How much can you compromise your work before you compromise your quality of service? All politics necessitates questionable compliance and it’s a trade off some are unwilling to make; whether it’s for love, money or their loss of integrity. Frankly, I make trouble as often as possible.
“Okay, well, I will come back in a couple of days. Please find out what the problem is and resolve it because by the third trip out here, well, you don't want to see me that angry.” Everyone in the pharmacy knew I was making light of a situation that another person might have handled differently—perhaps transferring their business elsewhere. Sometimes, it's better just to throw up your hands and accept it; stuff happens. One girl behind the counter said in front of her astonished coworkers, "Those sound like fighting words." She was dead serious. I laughed and said, "Honey, you've been watching too much professional wrestling on TV." God bless people with no sense of humor. There’s no escaping violence in our world, but looking for it in all the wrong places is a daunting task. So in all good humor, let's explore the jargon of our trade, which is rife with killer terms.
