A Cobbler or a Roofer?

H.L.Mencken said something like,”For every complex problem there is a solution that is clear, simple, and wrong.” 

A story from “A Treasury of Jewish Folklore” edited by Nathan Ausbel goes something like this: The town had a great calamity, the town cobbler had murdered one of his customers. There was no doubt about his guilt and the judge sentenced him to death. After some grumbling the townspeople questioned the judge. “Your honor, the town cobbler is the only cobbler we have and if you sentence him to death, who will mend our shoes?” The judge thought and finally agreed saying, “You are right that we only have one cobbler and since we have two roofers, let one of them be hanged instead.” 

Probably obvious that this isn’t a true story and yet there is something about it that makes me think it could happen. We’re at a point where there really aren't a lot of great choices to solve problems. Rather, we make trade-offs. Yes, we will need to get our shoes fixed and our roofs repaired, but is the best way to make sure both of those things happen is to let a guilty man go unpunished? Is that trade-off worth it? And what about the innocent roofer? Is his hanging for a crime he didn’t commit right? 

Here, the trade-off for the townspeople was pretty simple: we need our shoes made or repaired so that need trumps everything. That’s why perspective taking is so important; if one looks for alternatives, it’s easy to find some better trade-offs. However, it is also true that many of us long for the simple solution that we think is clear and blindly charge ahead without considering unintended consequences. As we deal with events and challenges, in the Age of the Heart, it may be helpful to remember H.L. Mencken. .