Why not strive for quality in every area of human endeavour?
Why not strive for excellence even in a field as apparently
unpromising as animosity?
So when I saw an advert for ‘Better Rows’ the other day, I thought
‘yes, why not? If you’re going to have a row, make it a good one.’
It could be an original approach to, say, marriage counseling,
couldn’t it? ‘We can’t stop you arguing with each other, but we can at
least help you make sure the quarrels don’t descend into mere banality. We can
make sure they have that special quality that marks them out from the
ordinary.
Yes, I can imagine there’s mileage in that. Perhaps even a little
money to be made, if you play your cards right.
Then I looked at the ad again, and I realised they weren’t
promoting a superior form of argument at all. They were doing that rather
tedious thing that advertisers like, of making two words, on different lines,
share an initial letter.
Turns out it’s just about threading which, I’m assured, is a way
of thinning out eyebrows by pulling out individual hairs with cotton threads.
 |
| At last - an end to bad arguments? |
And here's another sign:
Marks and Spencer offering 25% of men’s clothing.
But why should all men swear? Surely something to be celebrated,
isn’t it?
And a last thought:
And a last thought:
That question I started with - why not strive for quality in every
area of human endeavour?
It actually has a good answer: because sometimes it isn't worth
it. I can't discover who originally said it, but there's a great statement I’ve
taken to quoting rather a lot recently: if a job isn't worth doing, it isn't
worth doing right.
Amazing how often people spend a lot of time trying to persuade me
to put real effort, real striving for quality, into doing something which there
was no point in doing in the first place.
I always end up in a row with them. Which may be why I'm tempted
by the idea of better rows.
No comments:
Post a Comment