Too Much Broken Stuff

Bari Weiss' had a shortlisting of provocative articles from the concluding calendar year, including an outstanding piece by Alana Newhouse, editor of Tablet Magazine where she traced the origins of our many broken  systems.

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/everything-is-broken

Systems don't work.  Trust in organizations has dissipated because the leadership doesn't deserve the respect they seem to demand.  I was kept on hold for two hours by a financial institution trying to move my son's custodial account to his own adult account, something already 15 years overdue and not done largely because of the previous hassles trying to do it.  My doctor's office properly tried to ascertain if it was safe for me to keep my appointment amid respiratory symptoms.  They notified me to come, but when I came the receptionist again tried to ascertain if I should have come.

My home needs major preparation for when end of life frailty forces me to vacate it.  Trying to find a suitable pro has not gone well.  My earbuds only cost a dollar at the dollar store but only last a few hours in my pants pocket.  The ones that cost more don't last notably longer.

When I take my car or computer for repair, they no longer ask my story of what I wrong, but go right to the instruments with ineffective remedy when a quick assessment involving cognitive skill would have done better.  Some of the younger doctors go right to the imaging too, without historical  or exam justification for doing what they ordered.

Our judges, Torah's pinnacle of requiring integrity, underperform our sports referees who may be our last bastion of meting out equity among combatants.  My synagogue evokes flashbacks of Hebrew School and USY cliques.  Our least capable professionals seem to be the ones most adamant about being addressed by their titles. Our public officials pander to the evil that tips the balance in their direction.  We've gotten too quick to punish adverse events without correcting the systemic errors, be they medical, police, or social.

It's all broken.  Worse, I'm not sure anyone wants to incur the imposition required to not have all these malfunctioning systems and products.