Looking Good

June 18, 2009

Looking Good

What’s the difference between looking good and actually being good?

As my parents are in the middle of sprucing up the house; you know, touching up the paint and general things like that, they have found an astonishing amount of dry rot on the cedar siding of the house (it almost looks as though the inspector did not actually inspect the siding of the house before my parents bought it). My uncle came over to help assess the damage that was accumulating and asked this question:

“Well, do you want to fix it or just make it look pretty?”

His question got me to thinking. Why would anyone want to merely make the outside look nice when just below the surface, havoc is being reeked  and is undergoing extraordinary damage? Is it the cost of fixing the problem, or is it the inconvenience on ones life that a total repair would take that would make a person want to just make the problem look like it has gone away.

I know that this is not only a problem for tangible items, like houses and such, but for people’s attitudes and lifestyles as well. All too often, people take the time, effort, and money to make themselves look beautiful on the outside when the problem and “dry rot” is on the interior. People are all to willing to spend their resources on making something look pretty, but are unwilling to make the necessary changes, repairs, or spend the time/money so that the problem will not occur again.

Looking good is merely a bonus to a “dry rot” free house, attitude, and lifestyle.

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