Clean Up Vs Clean Start
This post was only prompted due to the current situation I'm in and that is cleaning up my magazine layouts because 1) I wasn't informed the body text style was changed and 2) there are some minor typo to change. I just came to thinking that isn't it easier to start on a clean canvass rather than clean up something that's already laid out? Or is it just me who finds the latter harder?
Whenever I am tasked to clean up an existing layout, initially I feel lazy to start it. Then it would take some effort to bring back balance whenever I need to remove or add something to the layout. And most people think it's easier to do that rather than doing something from scratch. Though the elements are already there - the photos, texts, and whatnots - it still takes time to bring harmony and balance to the layout without compromising the design you initially had.
Then, from this thought I went deeper. Isn't it hard to clean up a house full of stuff rather than have a fresh start? Having three kids, it's a common sight to wake up to scattered toys, worn clothes, empty feeding bottles, and dried up spilled liquid. Whenever I tie up my hair into a knot, I always get surprised at the end to have taken about 3 hours of my time to clean up the house. It's not really a huge house but the little things take so much time sorting out. When I'm faced with lots of dishes to clean up, I always hear my father saying it would only take me 15 minutes to finish the job. Well, with feeding bottles and casseroles, it would take about 20 to 30 minutes. There are days I really wished I could be a witch who, with a wriggle of her nose, cleans up the whole house.
Then from cleaning up the house, my thoughts flew to cleaning up a relationship, cleaning up a government, cleaning up the society. It just hit me that sometimes cleaning up takes more time to finish than when you do something from scratch. When there are trust issues that fragmented your current relationship, isn't it hard to clean up the mess? When politics has been dragged deep into corruption, isn't it hard to clean up the institution and bring back integrity? When there are drug addicts because of loneliness, isn't it hard to clean up their minds? In the end this brings to my mind: Prevention is better than cure. To avoid heavy clean up, maybe we shouldn't take for granted the opportunity where we can have a clean start. When we become parents, let's pour our love and understanding rather than feel sorry when our children grow up bastards. Buy essential things for your homes so it doesn't end up too cluttered. When in service of the people, avoid getting involved in malicious transactions so you can keep the trust of your constituents. It's hard to clean up and it may take so much of our time and effort.
Whenever I am tasked to clean up an existing layout, initially I feel lazy to start it. Then it would take some effort to bring back balance whenever I need to remove or add something to the layout. And most people think it's easier to do that rather than doing something from scratch. Though the elements are already there - the photos, texts, and whatnots - it still takes time to bring harmony and balance to the layout without compromising the design you initially had.
Then, from this thought I went deeper. Isn't it hard to clean up a house full of stuff rather than have a fresh start? Having three kids, it's a common sight to wake up to scattered toys, worn clothes, empty feeding bottles, and dried up spilled liquid. Whenever I tie up my hair into a knot, I always get surprised at the end to have taken about 3 hours of my time to clean up the house. It's not really a huge house but the little things take so much time sorting out. When I'm faced with lots of dishes to clean up, I always hear my father saying it would only take me 15 minutes to finish the job. Well, with feeding bottles and casseroles, it would take about 20 to 30 minutes. There are days I really wished I could be a witch who, with a wriggle of her nose, cleans up the whole house.
Then from cleaning up the house, my thoughts flew to cleaning up a relationship, cleaning up a government, cleaning up the society. It just hit me that sometimes cleaning up takes more time to finish than when you do something from scratch. When there are trust issues that fragmented your current relationship, isn't it hard to clean up the mess? When politics has been dragged deep into corruption, isn't it hard to clean up the institution and bring back integrity? When there are drug addicts because of loneliness, isn't it hard to clean up their minds? In the end this brings to my mind: Prevention is better than cure. To avoid heavy clean up, maybe we shouldn't take for granted the opportunity where we can have a clean start. When we become parents, let's pour our love and understanding rather than feel sorry when our children grow up bastards. Buy essential things for your homes so it doesn't end up too cluttered. When in service of the people, avoid getting involved in malicious transactions so you can keep the trust of your constituents. It's hard to clean up and it may take so much of our time and effort.
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