Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Sometimes a solution is bad in the long term, but it is exactly what is needed in the short term.

Sitting here in the coffee shop (no names, but their logo is green), I managed to drop a speck on butter on the lens of my reading glasses. I grab the paper napkin and start to wipe the lens. I can hear some persons who are close to me and well meaning saying, “Don’t wipe your glasses with that. You will just smear the lens.”

Yes, I will smear the butter across the lens. I will, however, be able to see through the smear for now. I will need to clean the lens properly eventually. Ah, “for now” and “eventually.” The short term and the long term.

Spreading butter across the lens to make it thin enough to be able to see through it is a bad idea. The thinly spread butter is still there. It will catch dust. The dust will accumulate, and I “won’t be able to see a thing.” I can hear those words coming.

Still, I will be able to see through the thinly spread butter for now. And for now, I am sitting here writing blog posts for posterity (some day my grandchildren will not read this). I have short-term gain. Later today or tomorrow, I will clean the lens of my glasses properly with the proper tools. That will be a long-term solution to a speck of butter on the lens.

As long as I use the long-term solution later, the short-term solution will suffice. And sometimes, the long-term solution isn’t needed. Caution here, folks. Let’s think and do better.