Quote Originally Posted by Ted Crocker View Post
I knew that you couldn't be that pessimistic, DWFII.

* BTW, it is the pessimistic; there is no hope for the world; everything is wrong with everything now a days; that felt insulting to me. *
Ted,

I am that pessimistic...you missed the part about me doubting that the numbers are significant.

I would also like to think I am a "hard-eyed realist." Not for me the lala land, pollyanna-esque, somewhere-over-the-rainbow, whistling past the graveyard...and all that. That's just telling yourself stories--fairy tales, mostly. And once you get into the habit of doing that you can convince yourself of anything...including the notion that the movie version of the Braveheart tartan is historically justified...especially with a good backstory. Or that a $100.00 kilt is as good as, or on a par with, a $500.00 kilt.

I don't dwell on the negative but I'm quick to see asymmetry and contradiction. All that's part of being a Tradesman (craftsman)--someone who works with his/her hands. To do that you must be critical...self-critical. You must have an internal hierarchy of "good, better, best," with very little room for greyscale. And know where your work sits within that hierarchy. And how to get getter.

Without that perspective, the whole notion of quality loses meaning.

All that said, I am also eternally hopeful. I consider it both a strength and a weakness. I will continue to preach and teach and write and oppose the forces of entropy and barbarism to my dying day...even knowing it's a losing cause. Not because I'm particularly noble or some knight in shining armour but simply because the alternative is too bleak to contemplate.