The Easy Way Out

There are times when I like to sit and reflect of the changes in our society that I have experienced in my lifetime. Like everyone I have my own opinions about whether or not the changes over time have been for better or for worse. Some have been pretty substantial while others have been more subtle, and both have had long lasting effects on how we live.

Typically when we speak of change we are saying we are looking for a better way, a more efficient way, or perhaps an easier way to get something done and it has a positive effect. Easy is the key word for today. We all strive in one way or another to make our lives easier.

In sales we used to say work smarter not harder although I was more inclined to believe that those that worked smarter and harder we're the most successful. But the reality is there is nothing easy about sales.

Anyway, I thought we might look at a few things doing things the easy way versus the hard way.

Easy to be hard:

The Family Life -

1). It's easy to throw a pre-packaged meal in a microwave or to bring home a carry-out. It's hard to cook a meal from scratch because typically it takes a couple of hours to do a nice meal that way.

What we gain by the easy way is some much need time in our day. What we lose is mothers passing down the art of cooking to their children. We lose traditions and fond memories of favorite recipes, and shared quality time between a parent and child. The problem is that it's time consuming but if we plan ahead we can combine the best of both worlds. Take a Saturday a month and spend the day cooking with your children, freeze the meals and have them "microwave ready" for use throughout the month. You'll improve their nutrition and create lasting memories.

2). Go to the grocery store for bread is easy. Take a trip to a bakery with the kids and you fill their senses with a host of wonderful smells. I takes a little longer and may cost a few pennies more, but I bet 25 years from know they'll remember those trips.

3). It's easy to send the kids off to sit in front of the "boob tube" or have them play video games all day. It's a little harder to motivate them to go outside, open their minds and use their imaginations. The fresh air and activity will make them healthier and happier in the long run.

4). Being a parent is the hardest job on earth. You are charged with the responsibility of molding the minds and charecter of your children, teaching the right from wrong, instilling morals and so much more. Over the last 30 years parents have tried to become "best friends" first and parents second to their children and for some it worked and others it didn't. When it didn't work we decided there must be a reason and excuse, and as a result we have a generation of medicated kids that have no boundries or self-control. That was easy! It's much harder to be a parent first, show them a little tough love and teach them medication is not the solution for bad behavior. Now that's the hard way but in the end it'll be better for both parent and child.

See how this works?

Our Society -

1). We have become a society of social networkers. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter all ways to network with others. It's fast, it's easy and for the most part uncomplicated. In a society that lives in sound bites it is the way to be seen but what about interacting? When was the last time you had a block party? Can you name 10 neighbors on on the street where you live? Today most people can't. It's so much harder to have personal interaction with people. Not only because of the time factor but because to personally interact you need to make an emotional investment. Facebook is fine for casual acquaintences but for lasting friendships, where they know you and you know them, you have to invest the old fashioned way.

2). Turning your cheek or looking the other way is the easy thing to do when you witness something wrong. As I posted in a previous blog there was an incident here in Detroit where a kid car jacked an 80 year old man in front of a handful of people. They stood and watched, and videotaped, this kid as he beat this old man, then took his car. See that was easy. The hard thing to do would be to intercede and help, or call the cops but then you'd have to testify. If we ever hope to regain some form of order in our society we need to step up and own it.

3). The easy thing to do is sue someone when there is an accident. It's easy to say I tripped on your sidewalk and you owe me. It's so much harder to get up, laugh at yourself, and say I should have watched where I was walking.

4). It's easy to blame others for the decay going on before our very eyes. The erosion of values, respect for the law, respect for your elders, respect for traditions, showing basic consideration to one another. It's so easy to say it's his fault or I can't make a difference alone. The hard thing to do is take an action. Be a leader versus being a follower. There is risk involved with building the road versus driving down it. It starts by expecting and demanding higher standards. Form yourself, your community, your government, your educators, your clergy and your employers.

5). It's easy to read your news on the internet. You get the headlines for both the national and local scene. It's much harder to sit down and read a newspaper. You have to turn from section to section to completly read a story but along the way you may fond something else of interest to read. Perhaps a human interest story or a story about something nice happening in your community, heck, you might even find out something new about the place you grew up. The internet has opened a whole new world there's no doubt about it, but there's something to be said about a good old fashioned newspaper that puts you more in touch with your surroundings.

The Government:

This is really a no brainer to comment on with the state of our country today....

1). It's easier to raise taxes to solve a problem. The old adage is if we throw enough money at it, it'll get better seems to be governments way of handling a problem. Here in Michigan we have a Governor and Lawmakers that have kept us in a 9-year recession. Annually they cannot balance the budget so there answer is to impose a new tax somewhere. It would be hard to sit down, put aside partisan politics and work for a common solution. To make the hard decisions on how to streamline our state government by making it as efficient as possible, and as citizen friendly as possible. That would be hard.

2). We have a Federal Government that just put 2/3 of the domestic auto industry into bankruptcy to "save" them. They told us we need to sacrifice, which is easy to say when your retirement is $80k a year and your get lifetime health benefits. It's not so easy when you have to care for your family. The hard thing to do would have been to actually sit down and plan a long term strategy to keep as many people working as possible. Create alternative industries and jobs where you could shift the work force. It's easy to say so sorry, good luck, keep your chin up. It's harder to say this will hurt us all but here is a way to minimize the collateral damage.

3). It's easy for the government and green people to dictate mileage standards for the auto companies. It would be so much harder for them to stand up and find a way to do a much needed improvement and expansion of the transportation infrastructure. The last major overhaul of this network came 60 years ago at the end of World War II. Think it might be out of date? According to IBM Technologies Americans burn up 4.8 billion gallons of gas annually in traffic jams. Think that might cause a little global warming there Al? I do. Maybe if we had more roads, considering our population has tripled in the last 60 years, we might not need to raise the mileage standards. Maybe gas wouldn't be artificially inflated? Maybe we should have earmarked "Stimulus" money to be used to widen roads or build new roads? Maybe we should close all the drive-through windows? But that would be hard, wouldn't it?

4). Every year both the Federal and the State Governments write new laws. When a problem comes up we just right a new law. It quick and efficient. It's easy! What would be hard is to look at our laws we have on the books, eliminate those that have outlived their usefulness, en enforce those that are effective. That would be hard! Do I really need my government telling me I have to wear a helmet to ride a bicycle? I think not! If that's all they can find to do then they are not paying attention.

5). It's easy to say we cannot regulate a free market commodity such as oil even though it should fall under the definition of a utility. It's easy to say that because our politicians collect a lot of money for the oil companies and traders. It would be harder to take them to task. Demand and get answers, and charge those that continue to price gouge. You may have noticed that gas has gone up about a $1 in the last 6 months? You'll also note that the price of diesel fuel is less than gasoline? That tells you that it's not the price of oil driving the price increase. It's pure greed. Now in another time it may not bother me so much but our country is not going to rebound until gas prices are stable. But to deny all of that money is a hard thing to do.

Easy is a good thing in most cases but sometimes the hard way bring a greater benefit due to the thought, planning and effort involved. While it is only natural that we change the way we do thing, we should never forget to look back to a time when the best fix was the one crafted with thought and hard work.