No substitute

After having been around scholarly journals over the last 15 years, I have learned to recognize the necessity of quality in one's work. Being around journals is not the only way to recognize quality. It's just the way to recognize quality in the field that I work in. This last week, I came across a report that cost 30,000 dollars. It was of the poorest quality for a variety of reasons. It was produced by a group of people that supposedly knew their field. Beyond the waste of money, it cost someone dearly in the accomplishment of goals and morale. There is just no substitute for quality.

When it comes to watching people's lives, it becomes easier, the older we get, to spot quality. When it is not there, a breakdown occurs for those people I watch. A really sad thing is if that breakdown has a ripple effect into my own life. My life is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. But, it doesn't need any help in deteriorating either. So, I have learned to watch people's lives without letting that watch influence my own. That's because I have learned the same lesson in a different arena. There is just no substitute for quality.