|
|
Be Careful What You Wish For!
Is it not wonderful to have all the choices in the world? For many of us this is literally the definition of success, having the ability to choose. We all strive to steer our own boat, be master of our own destiny. But is this really true? Does having unlimited choices actually make anyone happy?
Having an infinite array of choices, not knowing which to choose, creates a great deal of pressure. However, the pleasure of having choices is quickly outweighed by the fact that which ever we choose, we are forgoing on so much of what could have been. I think this is why so many people who we would ordinarily think of as being extraordinarily lucky, are quite miserable. An example from my own personal experience, Nadia, the wife of a hedge fund manager, for whom I was commissioned to build a home, illustrates this beautifully.
Nadia was obsessed with design of the front door. The main entry, though representing only a fraction of a percent of the total cost of the home, is the focal point of the facade of the house. On the one hand it needs to blend in with the rest of the facade, but at the same time it must stand out enough to draw your eye.
The door can stand on its own, or it might have sidelights on each side as well as a window, or transom, above. The door can be painted, the same color as the rest of the trend, or in a different color. If this color in turn can be another shade of the trim color or an altogether different color. Alternatively, it can be stained, which implies a whole other list of possibilities relating to grain pattern, stain and level of sheen.
The appropriate choice of entry will not radically change our impression of the home, it will merely complete it. On the other hand, the wrong choice will be like a pimple on the nose of a beautiful woman, try as we may, we cannot take our eyes off it.
With this in mind, let us return to the heroine of our story, Nadia. Nadia, by nature hated to be held accountable for anything. Her two steady refrains were that she needed more hand holding and that she wanted to know who dropped the ball. In reality it was she who dropped the ball, but pointing this small fact out Nadia would only have provoked hysterics on her part.
On the matter of the door she sought whatever help she could, from whomever she could trouble to get it. She asked the builder(myself), she asked the architect, she asked the designer, she asked her friends, she even asked people she really could not stand; she even asked the postman. For months, each day Nadia drove around various neighbourhoods of the city looking at doorways. When she went on vacation with her husband, she looked at still more doorways.
The problem was that the more doorways Nadia saw, the more confused she became. Her friends were starting to find to her a bore, as she could talk of nothing else. She was completely obsessed. Nadia was slowly, but surely, going out of her mind, and all over this damned door!
Months went by, the seasons passed. Slowly, painfully slowly, the house progressed. Yet still a gaping hole remained in the front where the door was to be. A year later, after which I had long left the project, I happen to pass that way. The home was complete; a front door was in place. It was a mahogany door with a double panel design indistinguishable from any number of doorways of homes built in that area around that time.
The moral of the story is that the next time you encounter a beautifully dressed, perfectly coifed, woman riding in a sleek black SUV with her cell phone tight to one ear, wearing sunglasses and a stony expression, think hard about what victory in the great game looks like.
About the Author John Berling Hardy is author of the e-book "Have We Been
Played?- The Hidden Game Revealed." The insights contained in this series give you the Edge. To find out more about the carefully guarded secret shared by all those who enjoy power and prestige visit Have We Been Played.com.
|
 |
Please Rate: |
|
Rating: |
 Processing ... |
(Average: Not rated) |
| Views: | 45 | |
|
| More Articles from Humor | | |
| Top Articles in Humor | | |
|
