The works of Author C.L. Harmon
If you choose to let the depth someone drags you be deeper than your will to rise above that depth, that is a clear indicator of the shallowness of your conviction to rise up when someone is helping pull you up.
C.L. Harmon
Leave a CommentDollar $igns have a way of obstructing all other signs. When we become fixated on them we miss ones such as STOP before someone gets hurt. Other ones include YIELD, warning us to slow down and be vigilant for what is coming. There is also CAUTION, telling us to direct our focus to what is near and present because danger is close. Let us not forget about WORKERS PRESENT, reminding us that our actions can be detrimental to those we are around. And lastly, WRONG WAY warning us to take a different direction because the road you are on is a DEAD END.
C.L. Harmon
Leave a CommentLife is a battle. It was never meant not to be. It was, however meant as an opportunity to change definitions. Hard is meant to change to overcame, impossible to accomplished, retribution to forgave, failure to persevered, and lost to discovery. Our own existence takes on new meaning when we understand that what is today is just something we have yet to define as something different tomorrow.
C.L. Harmon
Leave a CommentPray for peace if things aren’t going to change or pray for change if peace isn’t coming. But do not accept change when it threatens your peace or pray for peace when you’re unwilling to change for it to exist.
C.L. Harmon
Leave a CommentSome of the best moments in life happen while we are waiting for the worst of times to pass. What is great in life does not wait for situations to improve, but for opportunities to exist. One eye on what is bad in our lives and the other on the good we hope is coming leaves us blind to the great that cares to see neither.
C.L. Harmon
Leave a CommentImmortality comes not from a lack of knowledge, but an abundance of ignorance as to the definition of morality. And the acceptance of immorality will prosper only when the ignorant accept humanity is not theirs to define but God’s.
C.L. Harmon
Leave a CommentSome people will spend the last several minutes of their lives hunting down the snake that bit them never realizing that it is not the poison in the snake that is killing them but the poison it left inside them.
C.L. Harmon
Leave a CommentOut With The Fairly New, In With The Newest
C.L. Harmon
So, I have my arm mid-way inside my dryer as though I am in some odd lover’s embrace trying to figure out why she, my better half, isn’t drying. After a quick tutorial from a YouTube video and a prayer, I am hoping they are the answer to fixing her without the learned skill to do so. As I fumble around the trap door hidden under the multiple pieces I had already removed, I began to think about why I am on the bathroom floor needing to work on a dryer that is not that old and has not been abused in any way. And then I began thinking about the other items I own that I have worked on in the past couple of years that are really not that old either. That pushed my thoughts even further into the realm of, “why am I having to fix these things and why are they broken?”
After all, these items are not that old. These are not items ancient with years of wear and tear on them. It was at this point, my brain began the curious trek into the past where I believe it all began. Spurred on by a video I had recently viewed of a refrigerator from the 1950s, my thoughts wandered into a different time, a more innocent and less profit-oriented time. It was an impressive appliance, this refrigerator with fine attributes that anyone would find alluring and attractive. Simple and yet an engineering marvel with beauty, finesse and functionality that would have certainly been a head-turner in her day. Without a doubt the whole package. And then I began searching my childhood memories for a time when a technician was sent out to repair our family fridge. There wasn’t one. Nor was there a memory of my father with his hands in the personal space of it introducing it to his tools. It just always seemed to work. It was always cold and the drawers always opened…something my modern one has issues with. Maybe smooth drawer functionality is lost to history?
On rare occasion, there was a TV repairman who would visit our home and he would work a bit of magic to bring back a beautiful picture. But he never brought a new set with him because what we had was still a working marvel that only needed a few minor adjustments or a simple part. He always left with his tools in tow leaving behind a working TV set and a happy family.
Back into the present with my repairs continuing and a floor full of tools in my way and shop vac blocking the doorway, my mind once more moved back to the distant past where I believe quality in manufacturing began its journey (or descent) into the present. I imagined, that sometime after that 1950s refrigerator was built and in a drab boardroom there was a proposal that sounded something like this, “ya know, we sold 5,000 units last year. If we make them a little less durable and add a bit more to the esthetics, in five years we could be selling 10,000 units per year. People are much more willing to consider new when their current unit begins to malfunction. And the new esthetics, well that will be the edge we need to push consumers into the new models.” And in that proposal, the modern age was born. Slowly at first. Just a gizmo here or an internal gadget there that wouldn’t last 20 years any longer but ten, or maybe even eight. Just a few small issues that get consumers thinking that a new product might not be a bad idea with the current one beginning to show signs of wear. Before anyone knew it, small issues grew into larger issues. And with these, the phrase, “they just don’t make things like they used to,” was born. Soon after, that phrase would become part of common vernacular.
What I can’t seem to understand is how no one in that boardroom could understand or maybe not care that if they do it, so will others. And that ultimately means when they purchase needed and wanted items from other manufacturers as consumers, they too will not be getting the best that manufacturer can produce. How could they have not foreseen or possibly not cared that other businesses would most assuredly follow in their footsteps. And yet, they chose to do it anyway. And this 70 odd year journey from high quality to to low grade now has me on this tool-cluttered floor with my arm intimately engaged in the inner workings of this not so dated machine. A machine that should have continued drying several more years before I had to make an acquaintance with its private parts. And yet, here I am…involved in a messy mechanical relationship that I truly wish I was not involved. One of many unwanted relationships I find myself in these days. I am sort of a “one appliance” type of guy. I like long lasting relationships where we grow old together, create a bond and take care of each other’s needs. So much for the good old days, I guess. Out with the fairly new and in with the newest.
This may be the way of the world today, but it most definitely does not make it a better world than what we once had. The truth is and will always be that quality makes money. It always has. Innovation may bring in customers, but it will not keep them if those innovations lack quality. Only pride in workmanship will guarantee returning customers. If you as a company feel it necessary to manufacture junk, then I wish you well with all of YOUR new purchase relationships that come from those who have learned to produce the same low quality products you do. Just remember though, these new products require that special touch that only you and your tools can provide to keep it running smoothly. Not sure it mentions that in owners manual, but it most certainly should. but Happy Repairs!
C.L. Harmon
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column] [/et_pb_row] [/et_pb_section] Leave a CommentPeople do not fear others because of their strength or power, but because of their willingness to travel into the depths of darkness. And it is the sins they bring from those depths that most choose to not match in order to stay in the battle.
C.L. Harmon
Leave a CommentIt’s not important to remember that there is strength in numbers. It is important to know that there is power in one. We only need to find one reason to live, one more step to succeed, one more sacrifice to achieve, one more prayer to know peace, and one more truth to be free. If we stop before taking the last step, we have stopped one step before completely understanding the reason we ever took the first step.
C.L. Harmon
Leave a Comment