This can't be good...

Prudence · 04-20-2005, 03:58 PM

Someone at another newsgroup I sometimes read says something about not letting the best be the enemy of the good. We use it as applied to medieval recreation -- as in, don't let your quest to replicate the perfect 1547 Flemish gown paralyze you and leave you doing nothing. Rather, make a good recreation and enjoy that and learn from it and you will at least have something.

I think of this everytime this sort of legislation crops up. You know what? I agree that the ideal environment for kids is where they have a parent of each gender who stay married, don't beat each other, don't get fired from their jobs and lay around on the couch in their underwear for 6 years while the kids eat out of dumpsters, don't send their kids out to play in traffic while they pretend they're still kid/carefree, and can model appropriate intergender and interpersonal relationships, while instilling in the child both a sense of self-worth AND a sense of responsibility.

But requiring all parents to be perfect leaves a lot of kids without homes, or parental love, or any positive role-modeling. My parents don't completely fit that mold above, and I probably won't either. Lots of parents are divorced. Do we take away their kids? What about widowed parents? Are the kids who've had a parent die any less vulnerable? Don't they also deserve the perfect man/woman parenting pair?

But the best becomes the enemy of the good. Because another parenting arrangement *might* be best, they want to throw out the good of giving each kid a bed to sleep in that's theirs, a home where they're a person and not a tick mark on a list. Instead they do nothing.

Don't let the best become the enemy of the good.

sleepyjeff · 04-20-2005, 10:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prudence

Don't let the best become the enemy of the good.

That is an awesome philosophy.

wendybeth · 04-20-2005, 10:20 PM

It's just asinine. I agree with Gn2, the clock is going backwards and won't stop until we reach that exalted mythical land of 1955, when shows like 'Leave it to Beaver' and 'Ozzie and Harriet' ruled the airwaves. The only problem is that real life was never that simple, real problems and horrific crimes existed (remember 'In Cold Blood"?) and society was every bit as sick as it is now. We can't go back- there was never anything to go back to- and we won't go forward.

I have three people listed in my will to take care of our daughter if anything should happen to us. Second place on the list is occupied by a gay couple who would be in first, except they live so far away.

04-20-2005, 03:58 PM	#1
Prudence Beelzeboobs, Esq. Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Gavel - I haz it Posts: 6,287	Someone at another newsgroup I sometimes read says something about not letting the best be the enemy of the good. We use it as applied to medieval recreation -- as in, don't let your quest to replicate the perfect 1547 Flemish gown paralyze you and leave you doing nothing. Rather, make a good recreation and enjoy that and learn from it and you will at least have something. I think of this everytime this sort of legislation crops up. You know what? I agree that the ideal environment for kids is where they have a parent of each gender who stay married, don't beat each other, don't get fired from their jobs and lay around on the couch in their underwear for 6 years while the kids eat out of dumpsters, don't send their kids out to play in traffic while they pretend they're still kid/carefree, and can model appropriate intergender and interpersonal relationships, while instilling in the child both a sense of self-worth AND a sense of responsibility. But requiring all parents to be perfect leaves a lot of kids without homes, or parental love, or any positive role-modeling. My parents don't completely fit that mold above, and I probably won't either. Lots of parents are divorced. Do we take away their kids? What about widowed parents? Are the kids who've had a parent die any less vulnerable? Don't they also deserve the perfect man/woman parenting pair? But the best becomes the enemy of the good. Because another parenting arrangement might be best, they want to throw out the good of giving each kid a bed to sleep in that's theirs, a home where they're a person and not a tick mark on a list. Instead they do nothing. Don't let the best become the enemy of the good. __________________ traguna macoities tracorum satis de
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04-20-2005, 10:20 PM	#3
wendybeth Nevermind Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 7,847	It's just asinine. I agree with Gn2, the clock is going backwards and won't stop until we reach that exalted mythical land of 1955, when shows like 'Leave it to Beaver' and 'Ozzie and Harriet' ruled the airwaves. The only problem is that real life was never that simple, real problems and horrific crimes existed (remember 'In Cold Blood"?) and society was every bit as sick as it is now. We can't go back- there was never anything to go back to- and we won't go forward. I have three people listed in my will to take care of our daughter if anything should happen to us. Second place on the list is occupied by a gay couple who would be in first, except they live so far away. __________________
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