Cav's Place

Considering the timing, I have to start by saying that this post has nothing to do with the United States elections. What was there was working badly and therefore required change.

Bad things don’t usually change in this world of ours, or at least not for the better, but the good or “functional” ones sure tend to. The problem isn’t usually the change itself, though in case of the good things it can be, but the way it happens. Sometimes the change is for the worse, which is obviously a big problem. Other times it’s just change for the sake of change, not making something noticeably better or worse, only making it different, which is pointless at best and very frustrating at worst. And yet other times the end result of the change may be somewhat positive if you view it objectively, but the balance between the good and the bad things brought by the change doesn’t lean heavily enough towards the good to make it worth struggling to adapt to the new conditions.
I think this happens because it seems easier to improve on something that already works than to fix something that doesn’t. Why don’t people realize that it’s not so? When you try to improve on something that already works, the result must be undeniably better for the change to be worth it. When you try to fix something broken, all you need to do is make it function, even if poorly. It is, however, true that the bad things tend to be more important than the good things, which does make them harder to change, but that only means we should try harder!

I have a set of “rules” when it comes to change. I don’t mean to sound like a dictator, but it might be nice if others would follow them…
When something does not work, you must determine why that is and whether or not the problem can be fixed in a reasonable manner. If it can be fixed and it is desirable to do so, fix it. If it either can’t be fixed or was working too poorly to begin with, replace it. That may sometimes mean destroying it and building something new in its place, possibly including a few parts from the old thing if they’re still functional and appropriate for the new thing. Try anything you can think of, at worst it still won’t work and leave you no worse off than you currently are, just don’t let it continue not to work!
When something works poorly, you must try your best to fix it, making it work better. However, you must take precautions in case your attempts will cause it to work even less well or even fail completely. You can try many things, but you first need a reliable contingency plan in case your attempt fails. Even something that works poorly is usually more desirable than something that doesn’t work at all.
When something works within acceptable parameters, you must be very careful if you wish to make any changes. It is true that it could work better, but it could also work less well or not at all. You must think very carefully before doing anything, only making changes which bring an undeniable and significant benefit. Keep in mind that even adapting to a good change could be a problem when the change is not desired, so if your attempts could also affect others you must always take their opinions into account and not do things that would negatively affect them. And if you wish to sacrifice some things in order to improve others, you might wish to reconsider. Yes, it is desirable to improve, but you must be sure that the improvement is real and significant enough to be worth the effort of adapting to it.
When something works well, it would probably be better if you’d leave it alone. The risk of any change making it be, or at least appear to be, worse is far too great. Of course it could be even better, nothing’s perfect, but that’s just one of the reasons you should not try to change it. Since nothing can be perfect, striving for perfection only leads to unhappiness. Treasure a good thing for what it is, they are few and far between…

I think this applies to a lot of things in life, from the least important to the most important. We would all be better off if people would learn to treasure what works well and focus on fixing or replacing what doesn’t…