kerr's folly

This is one of those blogs that I intended to type two years ago and started to put together around that time but I never really figured out how I wanted to structure it, so it collected dust for a while. I have got several like that from around the same year. That is beside the point right now, though.

Back when I started typing this I had just learned of a concept called "Kerr's Folly" in school, which describes an issue that has always intrigued me. Steven Kerr, who was or is a professor of management at the University of Michigan, wrote a relatively famous piece in 1995 entitled "On the folly of rewarding A, while hoping for B." The title sums up the concept nicely. All too often societies, businesses, individuals, and other entities believe expect a certain type of behavior but reward a contradictory behavior. As an example, we expect politicians to be representative of the common constituency, but we accept a system that requires someone be either independently wealthy or willing to accept contributions from whomever will give them in order to be elected. So, we are hoping for a representative who understands and responds to the issues of the common folk, but we reward millionaires and sellouts.

The concept was originally written for business and it is very applicable there. Investors demand long-term growth and stability but judge companies on quarterly results without regard to statistical variation. Management expects teamwork but rewards and punishes based on comparative individual accomplishment. Projects are expected to be completed with high level of quality but rewards are based on meeting time and cost goals.

I see the same sorts of things in life outside of business as well. People who feel mistreated lash out, thus guaranteeing that they will continue to be mistreated (or will start to be mistreated if they misunderstood their treatment before). People who desire friendships and deeper relationships become clingy, which encourages others to avoid them rather than befriend them. People expect their kids to have certain standards and viewpoints but they model opposing standards through their personal behavior and are inconsistent in enforcing the standards they preach.

I have always tried to pay attention as to whether I an providing incentives for people to do the opposite of what I want them to do. I don't know that anyone can be objective enough all of the time to really know what behavior he or she is encouraging, though. Do you pay attention to the behavior that you are encouraging in others to behave in your life as well? Do you have a reason not to?

holiday busyness

I am well-documented in expressing my distaste for all of the responsibilities that come with the holidays. It is supposed to be a joyous time of year, but you have to jump through fifteen different hoops just to have done things right for the holidays. Christmas cards, decorations, gifts are all stresses more than they are things to bring families closer together or emphasize the importance of Christ, which are what the focus of holiday time should be anyway.

I remember really looking forward to Christmas as a kid, but the reasoning for that was pretty sound. It was one of my best opportunities to get toys and games, I got time off school, and I usually got the opportunity to play with cousins. I had no real responsibilities with the holiday, so the adults got to deal with all of the stress.

I have a theory that twenty percent of those who celebrate Christmas are holding the other eighty percent hostage. I think that twenty percent of people are so into the holidays that they are the ones listening to carols all year and putting up huge Christmas displays in their yards the day after Thanksgiving. They are the ones who put hours into creating their Christmas cards and send them to everyone they ever met. They are also the ones who figured out the popular gifts for the year in August and had them purchased before the rush (probably not as relevant this year, but you get the picture). I think that this twenty percent of people for whom this is a hobby rather than a responsibility sets the bar for the other eighty percent of the population.

To the eighty percent of the Christmas-celebrating population I say, "Enough!" Rather than describing people who would prefer to spend time home with their families watching TV or playing games than in a chaotic mall or holed up in the back room writing Christmas cards as apathetic Scrooges, we should aspire to be more like them. Of course, I say that as an apathetic Scrooge.

prayer

I have never felt like I was any good at prayer. At different times it has felt like one of the three following things.

1. Patronizing, because God already knows He is great and knows that I know.
2. Selfish, because I seem to go to Him most frequently for less than altruistic purposes.
3. Boring, because what do you say to the One who knows everything?
   

Something about a lot of prayer and the emphases I have seen on prayer has always felt a little off, and it typically was related to one of the three impressions above. Since I know that prayer is important, possibly the most important element of a Christian's life, I have never felt too comfortable going in a path that might lead me to take some weird anti-prayer stance. In retrospect, I do not think that has ever really been a danger, though.

I have long felt that the key to understanding prayer is in Matthew 6:5-15, copied below from the NIV. I have also long felt that the emphasis that I have often seen placed on prayer in church environments has conflicted with what I read in this passage. Until recently, though, I had not taken the time to parse this and give it proper thought.

"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. "This, then, is how you should pray:" 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.' For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."

What follows is how I break down and interpret this passage. The first few points have to do with the act of praying more than what is actually said.

"...when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father..."

Don't make a show of it. This seems elementary, but when you think of a good prayer do you think of one that is a good speech or one that is humbly directed to the Father? I think that the emphasis on turning prayers into speeches has done more to discourage everyday people from praying than anything else because those oratory prayers make us think on some level that the quality of delivery is what matters.

"...do not keep on babbling like pagans..."

Length for length's sake is pointless. A genuine three-minute prayer is better than a fifteen minute prayer with no real communication with God. Prayers cannot and should not ever be judged purely on length.

"Do not be like [the pagans], for your Father knows what you need before you ask him."

To an extent this addresses my second and third annoyances from the beginning of this post. I can take my needs and wants to God and He will address those things that are really needs, so selfishness is not necessarily rewarded. Furthermore, God does not want me blathering on into boredom in an attempt to be heard. I can beseech God as long as I need to, but there is no obligation to pray into the point of boredom.

At this point Jesus gives an example prayer, opening it with the command, "This, then, is how you should pray." So, the Lord's Prayer which follows is an example of how I should pray. I think it is also important to note that since this prayer is meant as an example of an alternative to babbling like the pagans we should be careful not to just mindlessly rattle off the prayer without really meaning the words. Otherwise, we are babbling like the pagans and violating the very spirit of this passage.

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name..."

I am praying to and should acknowledge God. He is great and holy. To address my earlier concern in point one that God already knows that He is great and holy so why bother saying it, I think much of the value is in my understanding it through my saying it. Do I think about how great God is and what that means enough? Do I think about how holy God is and what that means enough? I should stop and consider this every time I speak to God.

"...your kingdom come..."

I should pray for God to do the work that He said He would do. Jesus spoke at great length about the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom represents the true Church, so I would interpret this as a prayer for that true Church to remain strong and to grow. Since the teaching in the Gospels about the "Kingdom" is relatively complicated, this is something that could be investigated further.

"...your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

I believe this is an indication that we should not be praying for what we want to happen, but for whatever God's will is to happen. Jesus provided the perfect illustration for this in Gethsemane: "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." I think there are some people who, if they were in Gethsemane with Jesus that night, would have chided Jesus for a lack of faith in not believing that the cup would pass.

"Give us today our daily bread."

I should request daily provision. Few things scare me more than this because comfort and luxury are not implied in any shape or form in this request.

"Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors."

I should request forgiveness for my shortcomings. Importantly, I must also not be harboring unforgiveness when I pray this prayer. I actually read this more as a focus on us forgiving others than a focus on God forgiving us.

"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."

I should pray that God guides me throughout each day and throughout my life. I should also pray that, in that guidance, I am steered clear of evil. If I had to choose, I would say that this is the most important part of the prayer.

"...if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."

It is part of the same passage and it bears repeating. The prayer itself is a meaningless charade if the person performing the prayer harbors unforgiveness. Your standing with God is a charade if you harbor unforgiveness.

only in america

One list that I have come across several times in my time online is a series of things that could happen, "Only in America." A typical representation of the list is here, and common observations are that pizza can get to your house faster than an ambulance and that there are handicap spaces in front of skating rinks. The observation that has always stuck with me is the following, though.

"Only in America... do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries, and a diet Coke."

It sounds good at first, and the reason it initially stuck out to me was that I thought it was more insightful than the other observations in the list the first time I read it. Upon further introspection, and the fact that I have started drinking diet cola with more frequency, I now believe that this observation not very insightful at all.

The implications with the observation is two-fold. First, someone who orders double cheeseburgers and large fries truly has little self-control. Second, diet Coke is a lazy and ineffective means of offsetting the calories consumed in the burger and fries. I believe that both of these assumptions is false, so I would like to address them.

Double cheeseburger and fries
Is this really that much food? On a calorie for calorie basis I know that a burger and fries tends to be more expensive than most other equivalent entree options, but this does not mean that ordering the food equals a lack of self-control. Everyone splurges on some things, which can be healthy when it is controlled, so splurging on the double cheeseburger (rather than the triple cheeseburger) does not seem like such a big deal. It is a big deal if someone with a sedentary lifestyle orders the burger and fries every single day, but that scenario is not implied in the joke.

Diet Coke and calories
While I am sure that a diet Coke contains many things that are not good for the body, a twelve-ounce diet Coke contains just under 200 calories less than a regular Coke of the same size. The average adult would have to walk almost two miles to burn that many calories. Doesn't it make sense that the person who should order the diet Coke to trim those 200 calories should be the one who is splurging on the double cheeseburger rather than the person ordering a salad?

I like to think of this in budgeting terms. Let's say that I have budgeted to spend 800 calories this meal. If my double cheeseburger and fries gets me to 790 calories, I would have to drink the diet drink or a water to stay under budget. This is the same concept that if I have $800 to do repair work around the house, once I hit my budgetary limit and spend my $800 I have to only repair the things that can be repaired for free. It is not absurd to cut back in spending on one part of a renovation project to offset splurging in another part.

Why do I care? Because only in America... are the burgers so good.