Expediency
Expediency
For the past few weeks, the members at Xisti have been suffering the consequences of expediency. "What does that mean?" you ask. It means that decisions made because it was expedient, rather than prudent have led to our current situation. Let's look at what expedient means and how it relates to our situation.
ex·pe·di·ent (k-spd-nt) adj.
- Appropriate to a purpose.
- Serving to promote one's interest: was merciful only when mercy was expedient.
- Based on or marked by a concern for self-interest rather than principle; self-interested.
n.
- Something that is a means to an end.
- Something contrived or used to meet an urgent need. See Synonyms at makeshift.
Makeshift ... now that is an appropriate word. The Forums at Xisti were based on a free software program that was written some time ago and added to from time to time. If you have enough programming experience, you can create a nice looking and easy to use conference system. The problem is, a lot of trial and error also goes into maintaining that system. Knowing this, we still decided to use that conference software at Xisti because it was familiar. We didn't have the budget to purchase better software. We decided not to use some of the other program options available to us because they weren't "pretty". We settled for eye candy instead of a robust program.
And today we are all paying the price for a decision made in the interests of expediency. A simple hardware glitch that should not have made much difference brought the whole conference system down. Since reprogramming is required, we have decided to do the Right Thing and install software that will stand up to the use we give it. The Forums at Xisti will be back soon; redesigned and better than ever. And expediency will never again be a part of the decision making process at Xisti.
Being me, you might know I would take this one step further. I began to wonder how much expediency affects all of us in our daily lives
- How many of the challenges we face now are the result of expediency?
- How many decisions made by our governing body are made because it is expedient to pacify this group or that?
- How much do we have to suffer before we learn that slow and steady wins the race?
- Is the current energy crisis in California the result of political expediency? Was the public sold on the idea of deregulation based on spurious promises of lower rates, only to find that it allowed power companies to run roughshod over the public good?
- Is there a good reason for the currently high gasoline prices? Or is it just expedient to allow the oil companies to enjoy record profits?
- How much is our national legislative agenda governed by expediency, on the part of Congress and the Administration alike?
I don't want to live in a Rube Goldberg world, where expediency rather than common sense and logical thinking determines the quality of my life and solutions are hastily cobbled together to make things work in the short term ... where we paint situations in pretty colors and describe them in glowing terms so that people are blinded to the horrors of the labyrinth they are traveling.
It seems there are no easy answers and we must look beyond the surface of every issue to find the hidden flaws; discover the true meaning. I hate to adopt such a cynical outlook, yet it seems the only sane thing to do in a world where expediency is the most common modus operandi and I can only control my own actions.
Peggy Erickson
06/15/01
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