Nothing improves if no one complains

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No one likes a complainer. Especially someone who acts like no one has it as hard as they do. Some people act like the world is against them and use every opportunity to let you know. But those people are rare and I think that, eventually, they get the idea that they are not endearing themselves to anyone with their constant complaints.

But on the other hand, as I've said frequently:

Nothing improves if no one complains

So, it's a fine line - if you see something wrong, you need to know how to complain but in addition, you need to know how to help. And sometimes, complaining so other people can hear you is useful. Not all the time but sometimes. Like yesterday.

The network administrators for our company made an announcement a few weeks ago that they were going to tighten the rules on the passwords we use to log into our computers and get access to the company network. They said too many people were using simple passwords and we all had to start using longer and more complex passwords. We all forgot about it. Until yesterday.

All of a sudden, the program I use to prepare one of our major applications started to fail. I traced it down to the part where it tries to copy the updated application to the network so everyone can use it. I contacted the administrators and they reminded me about the new rules for passwords. "Well," I said, "this program is only used internally and no one else has access to it but me. Why should that need a new, fancier password?"It turns out the rules were not that flexible. All passwords needed to be upgraded. This meant I had a lot of work to do because this password was embedded in a number of smaller programs that prepared and loaded our application. It took me half the day but I finally did it.

But I couldn't just drop it. I had to make a big production of it and did a little hand waving and story telling to make sure everyone knew how hard I'd worked and how distressed I was! But in the end, it helped. Another engineer was having a similar problem and didn't know what the cause was. One of the fellows sitting near me had heard my tirade and mentioned to the other engineer what I'd been complaining about. The other engineer came to me to ask more about the problem and, sure enough, his problem was the same as mine. He would have been stuck for a longer time if our intermediary hadn't connected my rant with the other engineer's problem.

So sometimes, it's worth getting a little mad and maybe even getting a little too loud about an injustice. Something useful might just come out of it.

You can have it all

"Having it all," is a phrase we've all heard over the years. It was usually used for the growing number of women getting jobs while they were also taking care of children or were thinking of having children. In the past, the phrase implied, women had to choose between having a career or starting a family. But now, they were free to "have it all". They could balance the time it took for work and for the family. It was nice that this freedom was available but it missed a few troubling things. For one, there was also an increase in stress. The women doing this were not magically given more time in the day to handle all of this. In some circumstances, the woman's husband would step up and help with more of the family side of the equation. Good luck with that.

The other thing this phrase misses is that this was not new. It has been going on for centuries. For women with children who lose their husband, there is no choice. They have to do it all - all the time. The same goes for single women who have children and the man doesn't follow through and marry her or help raise the children. These women have it all for sure  - all the responsibility, all the worry, all the time.

Then this morning in church, we were singing a song called You Can Have it All, Lord. Our pastor had just preached a sermon on John 13:1-11 where Jesus washes the feet of the disciples. Jesus has to explain to them that they cannot wash his feet. He must wash their feet to cleanse them. It is grace that he is talking about. No matter the problems we have, the troubles we cause, the sins we have committed. Jesus takes it all and forgives us. Now, he "has it all". It's hard to imagine but that's the way it works. There is nothing we can do to deserve it. It's his free gift to us.

Having it all could mean you're having all the problems. It could mean having all the worry. But we can give it all to Jesus and the freedom is wonderful. In this case, having it all is a choice but in the reverse. It's more "giving it all" and then receiving salvation.

Here is the link to our pastor's message. He says much better than I can.

Another great "Humans of New York" post

I've mentioned Humans of New York before but there are so many good posts there, I could almost just repeat every one here. But what's the use of that? You can just go and see them for yourself. But every once in a while, there is one so good that I want to point it out.

This one is from a few months ago but it has stuck with me. The man in the story is down on his luck but what he says shows that wisdom is often hidden in despair and trouble. This picture and interview were taken in a park in New York. That's all I know about it.

"When it starts to get crowded, I’ll leave.  Because I can’t stand the looks.  You know how many people were gonna sit on that bench over there, but decided against it, because of what’s sitting right here?  I drank myself into homelessness.  So I’m not looking for violins or tissues.  But I used to be in the mainstream.  I was somebody once, and people used to look at me without any barriers or animosity.  I can tell you this: when John Lennon sings Imagine, it’s complete bullshit.  He was living in the Dakota when he wrote that, overlooking Central Park.  Imagine no possessions?  He should have written a song about all the wonderful things that he had.  Imagine nothing to live or die for?  No Yoko?  No career?  No child?  No fame?  No status?  Well here I am.  There’s no peace here."

Here's the link to the original post.