Everyone Recognizes Quality
We all know there is a distinct difference between high and low quality goods and services…
- A tool that works reliably for years vs. one that breaks the second time you use it
- The luscious taste of a home-grown garden tomato vs. a mass-produced, picked-too-early one
- A road that is built well and rides smooth vs. a bumpy one that is prone to potholes
- The lawn that is nicely maintained vs. a neglected one
- A salesperson who really knows their product vs. one that has less knowledge than you
- Workers who show up on time and get right to work vs. one who arrives late and slacks off
- A leader who can organize and motivate their team vs. the chaos surrounding one who can’t
- … we could go on and on… but you see my point.
Everything can be assessed to have some level of quality and, generally speaking, better quality is preferable to lower quality.
Of course, value judgments must be made. I could buy a sofa designed to last a thousand years but it would be ridiculously expensive (and I probably would get tired of it well before it wore out!)… and I could buy a really cheap sofa that would look ragged in less than a year (but I don’t want to be buying a new sofa every year!)… so I compromise somewhere in the middle, personnally deciding to pay a little more and leaning toward the higher quality side. I do like having plenty of options, which our free market economic system generally provides wonderfully.
I do worry, though, about people who always choose the very cheapest thing… who look only at price and don’t take time to really assess the value. While there are times we might actually want a “throw-away” product or service if we have a very specific need… most of the time, we buy things we want to keep and use for some reasonable period of time, or purchase services we want to rely on and not worry about how well that job might be done. People who make poor value judgments find themselves buying the same item over and over again, since it doesn’t last, and end up paying MORE than they would have if they had made a “good purchase” to begin with. Sadly, I think most of the people who take this approach are the ones who can LEAST afford to pay more!
It is this short-sighted mentality that I think has affected the “quality rating” of our country. We have lowered our standards, elected less qualified and trustworthy representatives, accepted watered-down laws without protest, become accustomed to poor service from our government and teaching institutions, and seldom examine our own accountability, and often fail to hold ourselves and others to a higher standard.
We have become so factionalized that we tear each other apart and have lost the UNITY needed to propel our country as a whole. Don’t get me wrong… our nation is great BECAUSE we have such a diverse population with a wide range of beliefs BUT, even with our differences and varying goals, we SHOULD have a common thread…love of and pride in our country… where we have at least a single point of agreement that holds us fast TOGETHER. In other words, putting our COUNTRY BEFORE OURSELVES.
Unfortunately, each faction has become less concerned about the implications to our ENTIRE country and more concerned about their own interests (no matter how they rationalize what they do as “being in the best interests of the nation”… their actions speak far louder than their words!). It’s “win at all costs”… and, over the years, this constant in-fighting has resulted in a watered-down, less-satisfying, much weaker version of the U.S. and everyone can see that the quality of our country has been diminished.
At this point in our history, we can either demand a “better product”… insist that our elected officials actually do their jobs and put the country first… or accept an “inferior product” and the high price that is inevitably paid for it. Do we have the will to assert our voices and take action to ensure the long-term survival of our great nation or will we be complacent and see it fade hopelessly from its former glory?
