A frightening realization

Wow, its been over a year since I took some time to throw down some thoughts on here and not for lack of content as much as lack of motivation on my part. However, that aside, something hit me today that I just felt I had to get in here and share.

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably heard about the troubles that Toyota has been having recently with their vehicles. And perhaps, you thought to yourself about how pristine their reputation had been up until now. Even further, you might have felt much like many others and that it was about time for them to fail.

It is this last group that I found myself in and then I received this New York Times article forwarded to me from my wife - http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/weekinreview/07segal.html?scp=1&sq=Oh,%20what%20a%20feeling&st=cse

Her comment was that she never thought she'd see the day in which my thoughts were in line with that publication. It was this comment that made me pause and take a moment to reflect on the whys behind these feelings and this is what I came up with;

Sadly, and I am to blame here too, people root for the successful to fail when they themselves can not achieve the same level of success. It is wrong for us to revel in Toyota's troubles as it has never been their place to rub our noses in their success. Rather than be joyful, we should be concerned that a quality product has lost its luster as it is a sign of the complacency that is taking over the world with satisfaction in substandard products. Why do we accept that computers which cost us thousands of dollars become obsolete in a few years or that expensive TVs are breaking while our grandparents still have their original black and white set that keeps on going? We have replaced "function" with glitz and subsequently sentenced ourselves to the frustration of very expensive junk. This is a glimpse into our future and the waste in which we wallow.

Let us all hope that Toyota can recover from this and that we embrace this opportunity to demand more from the products we spend our money on.