JUST DON’T START!

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“Never start something you can’t finish,” says Graham Archer. When the call for Government action is heard on some piffling issue, why, he asks, can it not stand firm instead of buckling under – and squandering scarce resources on a costly vote-saving plan?

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As a young person, growing up, I remember what a powerful influence my grandmother was. A progressive, forward-looking woman, it was she who ordered that I should be taught to drive, as soon as my feet could reach the pedals.

In her mind was the thought that, if I could drive, I would be another person she could arm-twist into driving her to church on Sunday mornings. Like many, she had a store of old phrases and expressions that she would rattle off, each one with an embedded moral that she hoped would be a signpost to guide me through adult life.

“Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves”. That was a good one, as any thrifty saver or cost control accountant will treasure. “Marry in haste and regret at leisure”. That was another good one of which many young lovers would be advised to take note. So too was the one that goes “you’ve made your bed, now lie in it!” Others that spring to mind are “honesty is the best policy”, and “it’s a long road that has no turning”.

However, the one that concerns me most today is, “never start something you can’t finish”.

How many times has one ignored that advice. I suspect that DIY stores reap hefty profits from those who have yet to learn that lesson, just as I imagine that there are countless households with wires hanging out of ceilings, and work-in-progress patios that have yet to host their first BBQ.

Recently, a friend put a new twist on this old saying, quoting an interpretation his father had taught him. It was: “never start something that you yourself can’t finish”. Though they both sound similar, the insertion of that one extra word “yourself” gives it a vital added meaning: that is, finish without involving others…such as legal people.

How often have we found ourselves in situations that anger and annoy us? Generally, these are minor matters that are of no consequence in the wider scheme of things. In the majority of such cases, the remedy is to sleep on it and see how we feel next morning. By then, the issue generally appears less urgent and we continue with our lives, knowing that nothing was started that we ourselves could not finish – at least by way of a little negotiation and compromise.

But, in some cases, matters get out of hand. All of a sudden legal letters are flying in all directions. And by then, something will have started to which one cannot call a halt. Win or lose, you will have lost control – often to your own cost.

Readers, I urge you – please be careful and remember my friend’s advice: Never start something that you yourself can’t finish. Never threaten action of the physical or legal kind unless you are absolutely certain that you have the power to switch the ‘off’ button at a time of your own choosing.

So, to the bigger picture: why do Governments not follow this advice? Why do they persist in starting things that quickly develop lives of their own and cannot be reversed?

It works a bit like this: some gripe is brought to light on the Joe Duffy show or elsewhere, often sparked by some perceived injustice. Through the oxygen of publicity, the mob is mobilized and soon the call for Government action is heard across the land.

Because ministers are a lily livered lot who think only of their own survival, a spin-doctor will be instructed to write a press release and organize some interviews. Then, faster than one could say “roll it”, the hapless minister is on TV promising everything to quell the uprising. The time to draw breath will have passed. In the blink of an eye, an Enquiry is held and an Authority established, with plush offices, bottomless advertising budget and a plan for the future that stretches into infinity.

That’s what can happen when Governments start something they can’t finish!

 

 

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