Wednesday 13 May 2009

You must suffer, we did, so you have to as well!

People can be very strange, and I include myself in that as well, obviously! There were a few things from yesterday that seemed to be related and thinking (in the shower - I do my best thinking in the shower) this morning I though of something else that could be tied in.

Someone made a really silly error in some code yesterday, the sort of thing that you look at and feel complelled to denounce as stupid, idiotic and just plain crazy. Basically a perfectly valid excuse to make yourself feel superior at some elses expense (even better when the person concerned is nowhere in sight).

It turns out though that the person concerned is fairly junior and not very experienced, and when you learn that the mistake is more understandable and it's much less fun to get on your high horse and start berating them for there incompetance.

I also noticed at thread on one of the forums concerning a story on the BBC new site about a Transsexual on hunger strike and the few responses at the time had effectively attacked what she was doing and the way she went about her treatment. Again it was all too easy to get up on that high horse and start the self-righteous ranting, and I admit I was tempted to do the same.

It then occurred to me that I should maybe read the article properly and *think* about what this person could have gone through.

One of the specific points that came up about this article was that the person concerned should have gone the NHS route for treatment and whinging about it now and expecting help wasn't right. I don't really know much about the big debate that seems to rage over private/NHS options but it seems to me that most of the arguments boil down to this: we had to suffer and go through this complicated route so you do to!

A-levels, GCSE's are all getting 'easier' if those currently in work and having these exams as a distant memory are to be believed. Kids today have got it easy we (yes, I've done it too) say. They shouldn't be allowed into university with such low-standards of academic achievement! We had to do much tougher exams than they did. We had to suffer and so should they.

So in essence there are two things that came to mind out of all of this:
  1. It's so easy to jump on the slightest mistakes people make and berate.
  2. If we had to suffer to achieve something that it's only right that everyone else go through the same pain
Sometimes you just have to think for a while before saying anything ... now if only I could follow my own advice!

2 comments:

Lucie G said...

Too right. If I had to suffer then so should they. (Pulls tongue out of cheek) I doubt the exams have got easier but teaching on how to do an exam has. As for Ms Davis, I read she's called it off after they have agreed to review her case. After watching her report she made with the BBC and her own site I have great sympathy the same for any NHS patent denied access to vital treatment which they can't afford privately.

Jess said...

Debs is a friend of mine. She has had a long struggle with the NHS, of which this is just the latest salvo. She hasn't asked for much, but all along they've given her the run around. Tis a shame she had to go this far to get them to sit up and listen.