Design and Reliability

Warranties. I’ve got a whole file of warranties. I’ve learned the hard way to buy “smart,” save receipts, and not procrastinate on pursuing claims. I just had a top name brand ceiling fan repaired not long after a factory rebuild. I am still anxiously waiting for my titanium watch after the crystal fell out shortly after the second factory repair.
Several years ago when I bought new computers I did research and discovered that the name brand that I ultimately purchased had the best defective rate in the industry- a whopping 19% failure rate! I promptly bought the best warranty they offered. My experience on one of those computers alone just blew their averages. When I called about some recurring issues, I was informed that they no longer made that model and had replaced it with a more reliable model. So much for the “latest and greatest.”
Guess that brings me to a whole different issue—the need for ever “bigger and better” models. I grew up in the era where, as a boy, I lived all summer with rapt anticipation of the annual August new automotive extravaganzas debuting the higher fins, more lavish chrome, or extra horse power. (Usually all of the above) You can see what’s happened to my heroes at the automotive design firms. In addition, I’ve given up on being able to safely wear perfectly good bell bottoms and serviceable polyester from my past. (They are far from fitting me anymore if I ever find what my wife did with them.) My service provider that worked on my refrigerator several weeks ago told me he personally owns “some twenty-year-old models that were built to last.” Gave me a lot of confidence?!?!
On television today the veterans of D-Day were recalling the technology from sixty-five-years ago. I realize how fleeting things are. I personally saw many of the remnants of World War II on Corregidor when I served in the Philippines and it is a sight I’ll never forget. I am sure that time has ravished them even more in the forty-plus years since I saw them and they were deteriorating then. Perhaps the only things close to “lasting” were the thousands and thousands of World War II jeeps. They are still encased in metal containers full of grease and still provide the core of the basic Pilipino mode of transportation—the Jeepney.
It seems the best and brightest minds that this world has to offer still can’t master permanent design and ultimate reliability. This morning when I reflect on the televised images of World War II veterans who scaled the cliffs of Normandy’s beaches, I had a thought. Although many of them are frail and gray, they still had the same, albeit aging, version of those original designed bodies that somehow scaled those hundred foot cliffs. Their hearts have beaten an estimated 19 to 20 billion times over the years without any upgrades or new models. (I know in light of the current financial situation that doesn’t sound as impressive as it used to.) I’ve had some glitches with my own heart but that wasn’t a design flaw. Those veteran’s memories still vividly store images that many wished they could forget. What a design and what a designer. All those veterans designed by someone who by His own admission designed our bodies to be temporary.
What He designed to be permanent has to be accepted on faith because there is nothing other than eternity that can test it. Based on His record, I consider it a pretty safe bet. Nothing else I’ve seen comes close.