Seeds For Thinking

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

* Planned Obsolescence
* Scripture: John said, “He must increase, but I must decrease. John 3:30, NIV

One of the side effects of walking the earth for three score years and ten (or longer) is a growing awareness of how temporary many earthly things seem to be.
Anyone who has attempted to obtain repair parts, or hauled some beloved and faithful gadget in for repair, is faced with a tradition called “planned obsolescence.” Treasure the company that supports maintenance and stocks parts for more than five or six years!
Do you ladies cheerfully welcome every change in fashion? Comfort gone with the cut of the newest styles? I imagine that I am not alone among the fellows that stand perplexed in front of racks of clothing that attempt to leapfrog me into the fashion future.
Brand names and particular models of items have a way of disappearing into the past, whether they want to or not. The automobile scene of the 21st Century is an entirely different world from that in the middle of the 20th. Let’s see: there was the Essex, Kaiser, Frasure, Studebaker, Crosley, Packard, DeSoto . . . all made in The USA!
Go to an antique tractor show, and marvel at the variety: Oliver, Allis Chalmers, Cockshutt, Avery - and a few names that still have corporate identity, such as the John Deere and Case lines. Others are still around but in a new corporate setting. They either merged with , or were bought out by another company. Who would have thought that “International Harvester” would be a model name under the Case/IH logo.
Many products simply become obsolete through new advances in technology and social change (progress?). The oft cited producers of buggy whips and washboards linger on in limited numbers, since groups like the Amish still use them, but, by and large, the producers of such objects either turned to some new, more salable product, or ceased to exist entirely.
Still, few are the companies that begin with the goal of making themselves obsolete on purpose. Most start with high hopes, and excitement in the pursuit of their own enterprise. Many succeed, but the number of those who fade like a flower in the hot desert sun are in the majority.
It just seems to be human nature to want to continue to move up in life, to ‘upper-ups’, if possible. Anyone in a position of visibility, power, or popularity usually clings to every visage of adherents they can muster. But consider John the Baptizer: He had a successful ministry. People from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him. (Mark 1:5)
Curiosity and -Yes,! controversy swirled about him. He testified that he, John, was not The One. He was the Forerunner, the one pointing to the Messiah. John said, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
December 11, 2005