Tuesday, April 25, 2006

That's just how it is

What an awful expression that is.

We all hear it regularly and it got me thinking how the world might have looked today if Winston Churchill had simply said, as Hitler tried to take over Europe "There is nothing we can do - that's just how it is"

How about if Bill Gates had accepted "That’s just how it is" when he tried to say windows would make personal computers user friendly.

Do you suppose Richard Branson ever replies “You are right of course – I will just accept that’s just how it is” when opponents tell him his ideas won’t work

I don’t know about you but I do not want to have an epitaph that reads something like this ….

Here lies Trevor Gay who always said ... “I couldn’t change things because that's just how it is"

We have choices – we can try and influence things and make changes or we can bury our heads in the sand and have a quiet life by accepting low standards or bad service by shrugging our shoulders and simply saying “Well - that’s just how it is”

I know which choice I prefer.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes! My least favorite phrase (or "favourite" as you Brit's say) in the whole world is "There's nothing I can do about it."

As you so aptly pointed out, there's *always* something one can do...

CCz said...

Hi trevor;

I suspect you'll love the small story (in english) in this post!

http://balancedscorecard.blogspot.com/2006/04/finanas-com-taxmetro.html

Carlos Pereira da Cruz

Troy Worman said...

Excellent post, Trevor! One of my least favorite phrases is "It's not my job."

Anonymous said...

There´s is a distinction in spanish that concerns the verb to be. In spanish you can make a distinction between an state, for example, "the bread is on the table" (in this case you use the verb "estar"), and a nature, for example, "the sky is blue" (in this case you use a different verb, "ser").

The first alternative stresses the possibility of changing the state of things, though the second stresses the unchanging nature of things. I think most things we say "are" belong to the first category of changing states.

Phil Gerbyshak said...

Simple, beautiful message Trevor. I agree with you, and with Troy. What about "that's the policy." Another fun one!

Trevor Gay said...

Thanks all you guys - you are wonderfully supportive!

As far as my current struggles are concerned with the crash of all 3 of our PC's and the consequent problems I sometimes feel I have to say ‘that's just the way it is’ and quietly accept it. I have now had three experts around and none of them can crack this problem! So someone out there can help us I know and it is just a case of finding the right answer through the right person.

There is always something we can do to change things.