Finding matching socks. “What’s your secret?”, asks a friend. “Well, buying new ones works for awhile! (But, upon sorting through a sizable accumulation of socks that had been mateless for a looong time, it was quite exciting to find three pairs that had been eluding me!!) Actually, I have found that, because of products being made all over the world and, therefore, inconsistently from country to country, it is possible to buy five pairs of the same brand and style of socks from the same store but at different times and find that when they are separated from their mates and later reunited, they do not match the other “same” socks.
Somehow the world-revolves-around-me syndrome has become prevalent in modern society. Currently we are living in a world which individual people believe revolves around them and their particular circumstances. No assimilation, no accommodation. One-size-fits-all means “my size” because if it’s good for me it must also be good for you.
Interestingly, when the agency I worked for began to implement electronic health records, the format was different for each section. Some areas used narratives; some used bullet points; others used drop-down menus; still others used checkboxes. When I was scratching my head one day about this odd phenomenon, my husband (a techie) explained it to me. “It’s simple,” he said. “They distribute the various sections to their various programmers to complete. Each programmer has his/her own preferences. Some like narratives, some drop-down menus, etc. Therefore, each section of the document is created to reflect the preferences of the particular programmer involved.” Hmmmmm….. Well, that does explain a lot. The fact that each programmer tackled the task according to his/her own preferences without consulting with other programmers to team up to make the product consistent for the user further underscores a trend towards isolation and away from teamwork.
How do we reclaim those societal mantras from the past? E.g. the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” seems to have been replaced by “Do unto to others and run!” How do we look for the intrinsic value in a deed or decision rather than considering only what benefits me? Taking care of only myself makes it a lonely world indeed.
This has been my rant. Please share with me your feelings. Together we can grow. Together we can make a difference.