Bigger Battles Over More Important Matters
Jeffrey Zeldman imparts some useful words of wisdom (and cites our very own TJ) in his latest entry: We hold most of these truths. Marvelling over the Declaration of Independence drafts at the New York Public Library, Jeffrey shares his thoughts:
The version in Thomas Jefferson’s own hand is fascinating not only because it’s in Thomas Jefferson’s own hand, but also because it contains passages that would have ended slavery at the birth of the American nation. But those passages had to be deleted before the Declaration could be signed by representatives of states where slavery was practiced.
Put another way, the client bought a document intended to liberate all humanity, but demanded changes that kept part of humanity in chains. It would take another 100 years and hundreds of thousands of deaths before slavery ended, and the tragic legacy of African enslavement plagues the U.S. to this day.…
So the next time a client requests changes that make your work less beautiful, less usable, or less smart, remember that greater people than you have lost bigger battles over far more important matters.
Amen to that. But that is a facinating piece of information. I am watching Ken Burns documentary on the civil war. Man what blood and death in that war. 5,10 to 20,000 men lost in some single battles. An bloody painful deaths at that. But, much like we may compromise beauty for the sake of client contracts, the founders sacrificed principles to get a revolution started. I mean, no civil war without the revolution.