DIRECTIONS INCLUDED: TO FOLLOW, OR NOT TO FOLLOW

During this time of social distancing more package delivery for new stuff means directions included on how to put things together.

There’s the box. Get the knife and cut the tape. Marvel at the incredible packing job, the custom cut cardboard, form fitted foam, inflated clear plastic cushioning.

If you didn’t open something last week, you will this week, and you’ll notice a sheet of paper in a sealed plastic bag. Those are the directions included part of the fun.

This is the time where we go our separate ways. We either follow the directions included . . . or?

Let’s face it up front: you know who you are. You either follow instructions, or you don’t.

Following instructions means giving credit to the engineers and manufacturers, the tech writers and shippers. Most of all, you show those watching you work that you respect the effort made to ‘Get It Right The First Time.’

For a quick tally of who’s who, ask people you know if they follow directions, or not. Since you know them, you probably won’t be too surprised by their answers. That doesn’t mean there’s no surprise.

Now ask them if they think you’re a direction follower. Those who know you best have the big surprise.

The people who say they follow directions will tell you, “Yes, you follow directions sometimes, but not as often as I do.”

With their answer, you don’t have to ask the next question, which is, “So you think you’re better than me?”

Yes, they think they’re better than you; they know they’re better than you. After all, you admitted you don’t know how to follow directions.

Sure, you try, but that sorry brain can only do so much.

The Problem With Directions Included

When you get a driver’s license you take a test. Part of the test is recognizing and following traffic signs, like a stop sign.

You meet the policemen who share the road when you ignore things like stop signs.

When you get pulled over, be sure to explain to Officer Friendly how stop signs infringe upon your freedoms and that you’re ready to debate right now. Keep a pocket constitution handy for reference.

Go to court and do the same thing. You have rights, dammit. Then pay your fine on the way out because you’ll be found guilty for running a stop sign, slow cruising a stop sign.

Eventually evolution kicks in. You either lose your license to drive, or learn to stop like every other old man wearing a hat in the car. For a look on the bright side, it only too me four times to learn how to stop at every stop sign.

That’s four tickets, four court appearances, and four losses. But I’m sure you’ll do better with an aggressive attitude.

American Directions

Columbus sailed to America, or close to America, and the New World.

In an odd glitch of history, 1492, the same year Columbus sailed the ocean blue, Spain was getting busy at home.

From history.com:

On January 2, 1492, King Boabdil surrendered Granada to the Spanish forces, and in 1502 the Spanish crown ordered all Muslims forcibly converted to Christianity. The next century saw a number of persecutions, and in 1609 the last Moors still adhering to Islam were expelled from Spain.

Does this look like the New World was discovered by a representative of an Old World nation warring on itself?

The Inquisition was officially established in 1478, and Jews were banished a few years later when King Ferdinand II issued the Alhambra Decree in 1492, ordering them to leave on pain of death. 

Spain booted people out in their country, then booted out the indigenous populations from their own countries. Their notion of ‘on pain of death’ seems to apply to everyone they didn’t like.

In a sense, America began with a big boot. In current times we’ve got someone in Mr. Trump who feels like he can do the same dance in the his kicking shoes.

But, since 1492, America has become a land of laws, the sort of laws that get vetted in a democratic process, not in the brain of a single minded politician. Trump wanted to take America to the days of old where people like him had more sway.

Did he expect he could buy Manhattan from a local native tribe for $24?

From mentalfloss.com:

The purchase of Staten Island a few decades later has more surviving documentation, including the deed, which says the Dutch traded “10 boxes of shirts, 10 ells of red cloth, 30 pounds of powder, 30 pairs of socks, 2 pieces of duffel, some awls, 10 muskets, 30 kettles, 25 adzes, 10 bars of lead, 50 axes and some knives.” If the Manhattan trade was made with similar goods, the Native Americans got less shafted than legend implies, and received 60 guilders worth of useful equipment and what was high-end technology at the time.

Learn to read and understand the directions included in product shipping, marriage, and American citizenship.

How you follow those instructions will tell you all you want to know about yourself. In a more painful reality, you’ll learn more than you wanted to know about others.

Reading and understanding is one thing; following instructions, directions, rules, or laws, is a whole ‘nother level.