Cyndi's Two Cents
Make it functional and practical and I’m on board
For as long as I’ve known him, my husband has stressed the importance of “functional and practical” in everything from cattle to trucks and from government to women. There was a time when I teased him about his frequent use of these two words, saying them together as if they were hyphenated: “functional-practical.”
He likes cattle that are three dimensional and easy fleshing. He likes cattle that are sound on their feet. Functional on rocky Missouri hillsides is slightly different than functional on deep and rich central Illinois pastures. Practical in that they are feed efficient.
We all laugh about the inability of those of us of a certain age to easily program a television remote control, but it is not so funny when it is my TV. There is nothing practical about a remote control that does not prominently display volume and channel control. Why do I need a zillion buttons and bars that my 54-year old eyes cannot read without the help of a cheap pair of 1.75 power reading glasses? It is not as though I have let the “technical revolution” pass me by. I use digital technology every day in my role at Brownfield, on our farm and in personal activities.
Don’t get my husband started on trucks. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard him say, “I don’t understand why engineers at these major automobile companies cannot figure out how to make a truck that is functional-practical.”
I am not a big fan of keyless start vehicles. I take that back – the keyless start isn’t so bad – it’s the keyless locks that are troubling. I have firsthand experience with this: Other than my luggage going to Baltimore instead of Charleston and an SUV we nicknamed “Christine” there were no stressful incidents on the long-overdue trip my sister and I recently took together.
Some of you may remember the early 1980’s horror novel written by Stephen King about the vintage automobile (named Christine) that was apparently possessed by some evil supernatural forces. It took a couple of days and a call to Avis Roadside Assistance to learn that you need to stay at least 15-feet away from the vehicle once locked if you expect it to stay locked.
It seems today’s trucks and SUVs are made for people who drive only in town or on highways. When you jump in the truck to pull the livestock trailer or gooseneck hauling hay a few hundred yards through a pasture or down your lane, you need to buckle up or bells and whistles start going off. Once you are securely buckled in for your short ride across the pasture, all four doors will lock. That’s handy.
Don’t get me wrong, I love new trucks. The power. The smell. I especially love them when they start right up and will pull whatever it is you need to pull.
The thing is, new trucks are not new forever. A few more trips across the aforementioned pasture, a recently harvested corn field or two and a hillside and your truck cab has its very own percussion section. The plastic has come loose.
There are many aspects of modern society that I find to be impractical and non-functional. Not the least of which is how we allow our lawmakers to make so many laws that are not funded or cannot be enforced or even defined.
Tags: commentary
I was in a government contracting class where the instructor made this statement “congress makes laws and contracting officers enforce the laws through contracts”.
What away to run a country. What about Senators that do not follow the law. What about Presidents that make up the truth. What about civilian deaths during all wars (it is usually the young who pay).
Please bear in mind, most of the world population does not have the values of the average North American.