Quality More Than Quantity

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Youth is a wonderful season of life. High energy, unaccountability, carefree lifestyle, ignorance, immaturity, and fearlessness best describe the kind of life and the lifestyle of a young inexperienced person, particularly a young male. Now please don’t take issue with me on this last statement,…it is biblical. In this particular youthful “season of life” the most used word that characterizes the way a person lives is “more.” Almost never in any case is “less” better.

Youth are always in a hurry,…are always in a rush. When you are young, you want everything to happen “right now.” Patience is a word never used or even thought about very much. There is no such thing in most of the youthful minds that even suggests that a person should wait or postpone taking an immediate action or reaction to a situation that confronts them. Within the unguarded mind of a youth, taking extra time and putting in extra workmanship quality to or for any job assignment or work task are the furtherest things from most of their thinking-processes.

Within these inexperienced minds,…Quantity is the best choice as compared to the slower quality philosophy. The “want-more-of-it” and the “want-it-right-now” lifestyle of the inexperienced younger people, and even some of the older folks, bears witness to the truth that practically none of these inexperienced people have any desire whatsoever to practice “delayed gratification”….it simply takes too long to complete.

Quantity…more… more of it,…and then still some more, is the preferred manner and way of living and working. The lyrics of the country and western song tell it like it really is… “I like it…I love it…I want some more of it.”.

Quantity is always immediate. It soothes the senses, it quickly satisfies both the mind and the body, and it gratifies personal desires. Quantity is welcomed and rewarded by the “flesh” as a means of temporary happiness, good feelings, and personal satisfaction. Let’s face it, most people want more and want it right now as compared to those who prefer to take longer and build it better and then get less of something as a result… even though what they actually obtain is of much higher quality and construction which in turn causes it to last much longer.

What I am telling you is confirmed by our “throw-away” lifestyle that we live here in America. Have you ever heard the phrase… “It is cheaper to buy a new one than it is to repair this old broken one.” You see, dear ones, quantity is always quite easy to acquire and certainly requires much less effort to accomplish. However, I will tell you the truth,…quantity is very short-lived. It has little, if any, lasting value to the consumer. That is precisely why you need so much of your desired goods or services (quantity). Quantity just doesn’t last very long and requires replacement soon after it is acquired.

Quality, on the other hand, is a completely different matter.

Well made, high quality materials used in the process of creating any given high quality item or service takes lots of time to create, is much more expensive, and always has more and better usefulness over a much longer time frame than does the easily obtained quantity items or services. The high quality workmanship that always goes into the creation of high quality goods and services continues to be a trademark of things that last and that keep on being utilized to produce more top quality goods and services. The very same Truth of Life goes for developing new personal relationships from within your personal efforts in your attempts to, create new ideas and turn them into finished goods and services for mankind’s use and enjoyment. Good and lasting personal relationships are indeed one of the major keys to lasting success, whenever you are working with other people in business and interpersonal social operations.

Quality always trumps quantity.

Permit me to share with you a true story about a most important and highly valued invention of a man who lived many centuries ago, but whose invention continues on today blessing the lives of most all people on earth…certainly those who are literate. His name still invokes gratefulness and thanksgiving from the hearts of men and women today. The man’s name was Johann Gutenberg. His invention was the movable type printing press.

This great man was born Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden Gutenberg in Mainz, Germany on or around the year 1398. He grew up to become a blacksmith, goldsmith, printer, and publisher who introduced printing to Europe. His invention of mechanical movable type printing started the Printing Revolution and is widely regarded as the most important event of the modern period.

Johann Gutenberg was the first European to use movable type printing somewhere around the year 1439. Among his many contributions to printing are: the invention of the process for mass-producing movable type; the use of oil-based ink; and the use of a wooden printing press similar to the agricultural screw presses of the period. The greatest of all of his inventions was the incredible combination of all of these elements into a practical system which allowed the mass production of printed books and was economically viable for printers and readers alike.

Gutenberg’s method for making type is traditionally considered to have included a type metal alloy and a hand mould for casting type. The alloy was some type of mixture of lead, tin, and antimony that melted at a relatively low temperature for faster and more economical casting, cast well, and simultaneously created a most durable type and print.

In Renaissance Europe, the arrival of mechanical movable type printing introduced the era of mass communication which permanently altered the structure of society and culture. The relatively unrestricted circulation of information–including revolutionary ideas–transcended borders, captured the masses in the Reformation and threatened the power of political and religious authorities; the sharp increase in literacy broke the monopoly of the literate elite on education and learning and bolstered the emerging middle class of society.

All across Europe, the increasing cultural self-awareness of its people led to the rise of proto-nationalism, accelerated by the flowering of the European vernacular languages to the detriment of Latin’s status as “lingua franca.” In the 19th century, the replacement of the hand-operated Gutenberg-style press by steam-powered rotary presses allowed printing on an industrial scale, while Western-style printing was adopted all over the world, becoming practically the sole medium for modern bulk printing.

The use of movable type was a marked improvement on the hand written manuscript, which was the existing method of book production in Europe, and upon woodblock printing, and revolutionized European book-making. Gutenberg’s printing technology spread rapidly throughout Europe and later the world.

This incredible man’s major work, the Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible), has been acclaimed for its high aesthetic and technical quality.

Johann Gutenberg died in Mainz, Germany on February 3, 1468 (aged 70). Unfortunately, he took with him to the grave all of his publishing secrets. The Gutenberg Bible, unlike all other known print on paper, still has jet-black ink clearly outlining each and every printed word after more than five hundred and forty-seven years in existence. There is no seepage through the paper and the edges of letters are perfectly sharp. Scholars and scientists still to this day continue to attempt to discover the secrets of Gutenberg’s printing technology, however they remain unsuccessful in uncovering those secrets. Researchers seem to have determined that the secret to the longevity of Gutenberg’s work lies in the type and kind of special ink that he used. The scientists have finally discovered that this great man, this especially gifted printer,…used a special kind of ink that was unusually high in lead and copper content. In essence, the ink he used was closer to paint than it was to ink.

What really was Gutenberg’s Secret of Success?…Simply this: No frills,…no gimmicks,…no shortcuts….simplicity and longevity were his trademarks. Quality, not quantity. Johann Gutenberg’s efforts were all employed by doing the very best that he knew how to do and then fully expecting total excellence of the end product,…the end result. He went for real quality.

If you want to succeed in life, work long hours, work hard as you apply your efforts, and lastly work smart to accomplish your desired results. Do not go for cheap thrills or short term benefits.
Get in and stay in for the long haul!

Productivity is the key to personal and business growth. And Growth is Happiness!

Peace And Love to All of You………………Poppa Bear

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