Standardization

I’m currently reading a book entitled Popular Economics by Robert Tamny. He makes a number of interesting points about economics by using examples to which we can relate here in the 21st century: The Rolling Stones, Downton Abbey, and LeBron James. My goal in this week’s Sabbath thought is not to focus on celebrity illustrations about economics, but to focus on a topic that on the surface seems pretty insignificant. However, once you consider the topic, you will quickly see how fundamentally important it is.

The topic that is fundamentally important to life is: standardization.

The title of the author’s chapter on standardization is “A Floating Foot, Minute and Second Would Give You Ugly House, Burnt Wings, and Slow NFL Draft Picks.” His point in the chapter title is if there was no set standard measure for an inch, a foot, or a yard we would most certainly have “ugly houses”. Imagine if every carpenter measured based upon what he thought a foot should be? One carpenter measures a foot as thirteen inches, a second measures a foot as 8 inches, another sees it as 18 inches. The outcome would be construction that did not fit together to form a precise whole. In other words, we would have pretty ugly homes.

The other items mentioned “burnt wings” and “slow NFL Draft Picks” apply the importance of standard measurements to something as simple as preparing and cooking “Buffalo wings” or to how fast a potential NFL player can run and how high he can jump. Standardized measures, a cup or a tablespoon, or a second or an inch insure delicious wings or help an NFL team pick the best rookies for their team.

The author states, “A standardized minute, pound, and foot are essential to much that we do.” We count on a foot being a foot, a cup of liquid being a cup, and a pound being a pound.

The scriptures tell us that God is interested in standardization of all measures. Look at Deuteronomy 25:13-16, "You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a heavy and a light. You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small. You shall have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure, that your days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. For all who do such things, all who behave unrighteously, are an abomination to the Lord your God.”

The point about honest weights and measures is also made in Leviticus 19:35-36, 'You shall do no injustice in judgment, in measurement of length, weight, or volume. You shall have honest scales, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.”

Standardization is important to a well-functioning society where honesty prevails. When people can rely upon one another whether, business man or customer, it creates a system where people can be certain in all transactions from building a house to making a cake.

There is more to the subject of standardization. We will examine this subject once again, in the next Sabbath thought.

Enjoy the Sabbath day,

Gary Smith