A Bad Compromise

So the other week we went sofa shopping. Eventually after much discussion and/or argument we settled on this: (Swivel Range, from DFS)
Unfortunately the woman in pink cost too much so we left her out. There were a number of reasons why we initially did not all agree that this would be the best buy but I'll spare you the intimate details of that. Once we had settled on this sofa, we had to choose the colour. Now personally, I think that dark colours (dark brown and black) radiate an air of formality, whereas light colours would not only lighten up the room but go well with the light brown carpet and medium/dark brown blinds. Another thing to bear in mind when dealing with leather is that, akin to jeans, it does in fact fade after a while (due to general wear&tear and the sun) and so the lighter the fabric, the less the fadedness will show.

Enough wiffle-waffle. My brother said something like "no point in having a bad compromise" (regarding the choice of colour). This got me thinking, aren't most compromises "fruitless"? As evidence allow to me present the story of King Solomon in the courtroom (1 Kings 3:16-28). As I'm sure most of you are aware, when presented with the two women both of whom claimed ownership over a baby, King Solomon threatened to split the baby in half. One woman objected, wanting more than anything for the child to survive, whilst the other was too busying thinking about shoes (or so the story goes...) to notice what was going on. King Solomon then knew who the true mother was. However, were he to go ahead with the compromised solution, neither would have really got what they wanted (given that they both wanted a live baby).

If there are two homeless people who each need £5 to purchase a meal to survive and you only have £5 to give; then giving each of them £2.50 each isn't helping anyone and will starve them both. Equality aside, had you given the full £5 to either one of the homeless people, they could have gone out and bought a meal which would have seen them through to the next day.

The art of compromise isn't about achieving "the best of both worlds" - rather, it the the art of cheating people out of what they want/need while all the while portraying yourself to be their saviour.