More Isn’t Better. . .It’s Just More

I intentionally broke my Apple headphones. I cut off the left earbud. It was surprisingly hard to do. Apple products are very well made. More wasn’t better. It was worse.

My grandaughter is staying at our house for awhile. We have clothes from her mom in addition to clothes from another daughter with young kids, and some people from church. My toddler granddaughter could easily become a clothes horse. More isn’t better. It’s wasteful.

My brother is 6’5″. His sons will not make it to 6’0″. More (taller) isn’t better. It’s just taller.

We live in a materialistic society. We venerate people like Mark Zukerberg, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, who have amassed huge fortunes. Sports stars are “graded” on how much they make. For that matter, so are we. We live in a “super-size me” world and it’s difficult to practice restraint.

I saw an episode of the TV Show “The Twilight Zone” called “Last Night Of A Jockey.” Legendary actor Mickey Rooney plays an out of work jockey, banned from the sport for cheating. He gets a chance to make a wish. His wish? “I want to be BIG!” And because it’s the Twilght Zone, he gets his wish. A man who had always been the smallest person in the room, suddenly starts to grow. He becomes a huge man. And as he’s revelling in his new stature, the phone rings. His suspension has been lifted. And they want him to race again. 

Bigger isn’t better. It’s just bigger.

With 8 kids at home, seven of them high schoolers, we go through a lot of food in our house. We try to buy in bulk. My lovely wife will buy 10 lbs of bananas. And my kids will eat them. But, there’s a limit to how many we can buy. If we bought 20 lbs of bananas, we would end up with some of them going bad. In this case, more wouldn’t be better, it would just be more. . .and worse.

I have a good friend who had a very successful six-figure job in the software industry. He walked away to take a third of the salary and become an artist. He had a lot less money and a lot happier time. More money couldn’t make up for being unhappy in his job.

My granddaughter is a joy to visit with. And yet, as a toddler, she’s growing, as kids do. If we buy too many clothes for her right now, she will outgrow them before she gets a chance to wear them all.

In the case of my Apple headphones, I use them daily. Multiple times per day. I’m often on two phones at the same time. Apple headphone in one ear, my deskphone in the other ear. The second earbud got in the way. More wasn’t better. It was worse.

As you look at the things in your life, remember that often quality that is important. Quanity can sometimes make things worse.

More isn’t better. . .it’s just more.

Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren. 

Follow him on
Twitter (@rodneymbliss) 
Facebook (www.facebook.com/rbliss) 
LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or email him at rbliss at msn dot com

(c) 2017 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved