We Do So Much Because Other People Don't Do What They Should

First off, I want to say Happy New Year.  It's not belated though.  The new year is still taking place, (even if it will be over before we know it).

My first post of 2009 is about people doing what they're not supposed to do or not doing what they're supposed to do.  I'm not talking about New Year's resolutions.  Everybody talks about those.  Rather, I'm talking about actions that are taken every day, ones we must deal with because they lead to results that are undesirable.  They affect what society has to do.  I would say that many of the daily activities in which we partake are done as a direct consequence. 

If this was an ideal world with respect to how people behaved, there would be a lot more unemployment.  If people were honest and didn't steal, we wouldn't need locks, safes, computer security systems, or policemen.  Just think.  Life would be easier though.  You would never need keys, could move your friends car or take care of their house while they traveled without any prior planning.  We wouldn't have any security hassles at the airport, wouldn't need to sign when we used our credit cards.  You could have left your cookies un-licked at the school cafeteria table without worrying that your friends might eat them.  On the business side, contracts would be much shorter.  We would need far fewer lawyers.  (Such a shame).  Kids wouldn't have to be taught to not talk to strangers and parenting would be immensely easier.  Hitchhiking would be an interesting, stress-free experience.  My personal utopia angle on this is that we wouldn't need computer passwords, (which have ruined my life)!  Could you imagine?  The world would be so much more efficient. 

On the flip-side, we would have to find other jobs for all the people that design and manufacture security cameras or for any people whose duty it is to secure or protect someone or something.  On a different front, most people in white collar jobs have to do a lot of follow-up.  This is only because other people don't do what they're supposed to do as expected.  If everybody did their job like they're supposed to, there would be fewer managers to oversee what we're (not) doing.

But life would be a lot less interesting if everybody was forthright and did what they were supposed to.  There wouldn't be any funny criminal stories in the papers.  We wouldn't sharpen our senses in sniffing out spam.  We wouldn't have as much to complain about and we'd probably be more vulnerable to dangerous wild animals or aliens.  I say that it's good that there are people who don't do what they're supposed to.  It probably leads to innovation and great ideas both in trying to perform illegal activities and in trying to defend against them.  It probably accounts for a significant portion of our economy.

I'm not advocating that you don't do what you're supposed to do, but next time somebody steals your Garmin out of your car, maybe this post can help you laugh it off.  And in this bad economy, many of us should feel fortunate that we have jobs.  Many of them depend on human dishonesty.

+ Atul

Comments

[Kaitlin D]

This is interesting, I have never thought of things like that. Most people get upset when people don't do what's expected of them or just half expect people not to do what they should. But this post showed me sometimes you just have to laugh it off.
Thanks for the post.

[Katelyn R]

The ideal world seems so nice, but you never really think about how it would effect our lives. It's weird to know that the world kind of depends on people doing the wrong thing. I think also that if there was no crime and despair, we would all get bored with our lives. But then again, maybe not.

[UH2L]

Kaitlin and Katelyn,

I tend to think of things that other people don't think of, (like this). People not doing what they should is sometimes funny and perhaps it's the way things have to be. And I agree that life would be boring and there would be less to fight for. We all need a challenge.

[Charmm R.]

It's crazy how so many jobs depend on people doing bad things. You want the world to be a place where you don't have to worry about leaving your house or paying bills over the internet. Truth is we will always have bad people in this world and we will need the police, lawyers, and alarm systems to help keep us safe.

[UH2L]

Charmm,

I agree that there will always be people out there that want to do bad things so we'll always need people to protect us and fight for justice.