The short view.

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Looking at things with a simple mind is the easiest way.  It is, as well, often the least expensive, most time expedient, and typical solution.  There is a time and place for such reasoning.  If you wish, for example, that a nail hold two pieces of wood together, hitting the nail with a hammer while it is pressed against the top piece of wood, while properly stacked or otherwise touching the other piece of wood, has no equal as to doing the will.  *bam*  As well, there are places and times where nothing else is available.  A radiator hose springs a leak while you are 50 miles from Nowheresville.  Duct tape and extra water?  Check.  Well, there you go.

Sometimes, often, that is how it goes.  Simple solutions to simple, or even more involved problems.  Find what, exactly, is wrong.  Then look at what is on hand.  Stir problem and supplies until the one takes care of the other or some other solution presents itself.  Often temporary fixes become permanent ones, until they become a problem often enough or at a critical moment, thus increasing their importance and demanding more of a solution so as to not be such a major problem.  How much of the world runs on duct tape, bailing wire, and a few other things is impossible to know, and would cause some to sleep uncomfortably at night.  Don't we all dream that everything is in tip-top shape, especially some things which life as we know it depends? 

The long view is wonderful.  The idea that we can fix problems so that they never return.  Over time, the goal is to create a whole system that can't fail.  The ideal is to design the system first, then implement it.  If that isn't possible, having what we have or can buy, the next best solution is to begin seeking the weak points and replacing those with solid parts and components, or keeping the parts on hand and knowing what is what.  Over time, it is hoped, that there will remain weak points that are so well made, and easily replaced even so, that life will be simple and grand.  Of course that takes lots of money in components, the understanding required to refit a system, time, and energy.  Given that even the disabled, who are flush with time, have limits on the other things, and a working man has to work to pay for it all, and each has their limits in all ways, the time to do this is probably only topped by the limits on money.  Hmm, a good education in plumbing, electrical, and construction aren't cheap or easy either.  I did say "good", not the typical "just patch it over" that often faces a learner. 

As I deconstruct my home, a part here, a room there, a system next, I understand the two views.  Oh, I could take this valve out.  Replace it with a better valve.  The problem?  The better valve isn't made for home plumbing.  Further, getting the failed valve out is easy enough, but figuring out how to get a flush fitting back in is going to be a trick.  Sure, I can go without water for a bit.  It's not my favorite plan, but it is doable.  At least at certain points in life and the seasons.  The question is, do I wish to risk taking something apart that I may need to get a plumber to fix anyway?  How much, literally, can I do myself.  Replacing a water heater?  It's... a bit of a chore.  It weighs a goodly lot, there are steps to go down, and the question of quality, and brand, arises.  The expensive ones don't seem to be rated much better than the cheaper ones.  Going middle of the road seems reasonable, but is it?  And, just how much can I afford?  I don't want, or care for, luxury.  But I am not interested in the cheapest fix either.  Where are the lines in there?

But this isn't about automobiles, or homes, it is about life.  There are ways of doing things.  Some are as simple as the nail and the hammer, with a minor swing.  If even that might take some practice.  *cough*  Other things simply can't be viewed as that simple.  How many of our social problems exist because someone suggested a hammer works on a circuit board?  How many things and people have been broken by believing giving someone just enough money to live would be good for them or society?  How much of the education lies in ruins because someone suggested all students are equal, and need both the same type of education, in exactly the same type of schools, for the same number of hours, and honestly expected that to make everyone equal.  Further, to create equality, they simplified the whole system down to a level no one should fail, causing failure at the top and not helping the bottom at all... the bottom chose the bottom and dove to escape any signs of improvement, leading the way for the rest of the education system.  A hopeless dive to where the least and worst would be equal to the best.

At this point, I can't be sure there is a middle ground.  With the economy having been crushed through bureaucratic malfeasance and an end of the good life, and a middle class, I don't think there is a way back to a more reasoned middle ground.  At this point, we will see hammers being used, exclusively, for every fix, until someone chips off the rust that was keeping the place together, for appearances, and the ship sinks.  The engines are gone or being attacked.  All of the systems that do work are being given triple duty to make up for what has been broken, and used outside of their intended parameters in all ways, and further are under attack by the gremlins who brought this whole thing to the place it is now.

Life is never certain, it is filled with mistakes from man to nation.  But there have been times when sanity was the goal and reason was the tool used to try to create the ideal.  Those times are long gone.  Equality, multiculturalism, feminism, free everything, debauchery, and deceit are the rule of the land.  Both sides know it, only one side cares, and mildly.  There isn't much to do about it but try to survive it.  Is it better to hope for a complete break, so as to begin rebuilding?  Or is the goal to keep the tub afloat long enough to see a simple farewell?  I suppose it depends on your age and your beliefs.  I do know a hammer won't fix it.  I also know the longview isn't quite possible, as things stand.  Too many stand in the way of reason, too few who could affect change care.  I guess I just keep stocking kit and beans and watch.  I have my own hammers, but I am trying for the longview, myself.  Ah, but... only for myself and those others around me who are doing the same.  We can't help those who won't help themselves.  Such is the way of even God.