OH! THE PUBLIC

Oh! The Public

Less is more.

More or less.

Sometimes you want to do it by the book -- and it doesn't quite flow -- so you cut some corners and then it feels more natural and it works.

Like teaching. If you go into the classroom with a lesson plan covering every minute -- then you are bound -- trapped -- by that lesson plan and you don't allow for spontaneity -- for improvisation -- for creativity. But if you don't prepare at all then you risk chaos.

Moderation. The spirit of the law. Discretion.

Rules are black and white -- but we have to know when to apply them and when not to. Or some would say rules are made to be broken.

Now -- if a doctor is cutting some corners and not doing all the tests required because the doctor has a gut feeling about what is ailing the patient -- if the doctor is wrong then we sue. So the doctor orders all the tests just to protect himself from being sued and then the public complains the cost of health care is too high and the politicians want to do something about it and if they try to reduce the tests the doctors are required to do we bitch and moan about death panels.

This story really has great insight into how a bureaucracy works -- the rules are fixed but if every rule was actually enforced -- then we'd have an impossible situation.

A few months ago -- I went to the Salvation Army to drop off some clothes and books and a few other items. There was no parking -- and I double-parked -- knowing I would only be a minute or two -- my wife and child were in the car. When I got out of the center a minute later -- my wife was arguing with a parking official -- he had given us a ticket. Now, yes, I was double parked -- but he saw my wife was in the car -- he could've told her to move the car and she would've told him I was in the Salvation Army donating some items and that I would be right back -- and hearing this I would think the official could have just moved on -- because he would be honoring the spirit of the law -- rules have to include a human element. 

If every cop gave a ticket for jaywalking -- and driving past the speed limit -- and every rule was followed by every official -- we'd really have a hard time functioning -- but Chekhov is right -- when something goes wrong we conveniently blame officials for not doing their duty.

A number of years ago -- New York City had a squeegee problem -- you stopped at a red light and all of a sudden your car window was being cleaned with a dirty squeegee and you were expected to give a tip for the poor and unwanted service. No one was enforcing this violation because it was deemed to be a minor disturbance -- not serious enough to warrant the attention of the police -- but in fact it was affecting the quality of life.  I mean if it happens to you enough times and your clean window becomes dirty and then you are expected to pay a tip for this and if you don't then you might have not only a dirty window but a broken one as well -- then you want some action and the new Mayor at the time Giuliani tapped into people's frustrations and started to arrest the squeegee folks -- and crime did start going down as a whole -- but then people started to complain that the police were being too aggressive and the city was becoming a totalitarian state.

Oh! The public indeed.

A funny and very poignant story. Podtyagin is overcompensating. He is trying to make up for all the time he was neglecting his duty -- and this of course is a no-win situation. It becomes a vicious cycle -- the more he wants to do -- the less effective he becomes. He needs to find the right balance. But this is easier said than done. He goes back to drinking in the end and so he is going to feel bad at some point that he drinks too much and doesn't do his job -- so he'll repeat this story again and again.

But in one form or the other -- either as parents -- teachers -- citizens -- officials -- whatever -- we are like Podtyagin -- we all feel we should do a better job and get rid of our bad habits -- we do a New Year's resolution and become all Gung-ho about our task but usually we find ourselves going back to our old habits until we we start again on the path of reformation -- like I'm trying to make these blog entries more concise and to the point -- and then I make them too short and the public complains -- not really I'm just pretending -- in any case -- I think I need a drink.