There is an old saying “It’s all in the details.” That is, it is good to have grand designs in mind, but one cannot neglect the details if you want to succeed with your plans. Neglecting the details can come back to bite you.
A few years ago, Lockheed Martin spent millions on an aerospace project. It was launched but failed. In reviewing the plans, they discovered that there was a misplaced decimal point.
In the 1980s, the NASA space shuttle Challenger blew up, killing all the crew. Apparently, the engineers ignored the fact that the outside temperature was lower than in usual launches, and the O-rings failed, leaking fuel out of the booster rocket.
Anyone who is familiar with the Titanic disaster knows that the engineers overlooked the fact that extremely cold water weakens metal, an especially critical point considering the primitive production methods of the time. Also, they did not stop to think using cheaper iron rivets instead of steel was of particular concern. The Titanic’s hull was not punctured. Instead, scraping along the iceberg popped open the rivets, letting the icy waters rush in.
During the heyday of steam locomotives, the crews always scrubbed down the drive rods every time that they stopped for refueling and maintenance, Cleaning the drive rods was not meant to make them pretty. The crews regularly looked for possible cracks. If a drive rod broke, that would derail the loco and possibly kill the engineer and fireman. This procedure still is done today with tourist trains like Union Pacific’s big Number 844.
In the late 1940s, the crew on a huge C&O Alleghany locomotive outside Hinton, West Virginia, apparently did not pay attention to details. The fireman did not concern himself very much that the water level had run low. The crown sheet overheated and ruptured, instantaneously turning the remaining water into steam. The huge explosion obliterated the most powerful steam locomotive ever built, blowing to pieces the crew, and scattering torn steel shards hundreds of yards away. The tower man in the signal tower next to the track was unhurt but probably had to change his pants.
I’ve never been much of a detail man. My mind is tuned to view the big picture, to dream of the grand design. Details are such a bother, especially if I am not particularly interested in what I should be doing as opposed to what I want to do. I spend far more attention to details when I am dealing with my hobbies and interests such as my music-video productions or my Story-Time presentations. Then I look carefully at the details. But, when it has come to taking care of my self, looking into the future, and planning for financial security, personal care, retirement, and so on, I seem to have been too bored with those concerns and, consequently, ignored the details.
So, here I am, late in life, discovering that there is a crack in my drive rod, and I have let the water run low in my boiler. I’m just hoping that the rest of my life is not derailed.
© 09 December
2012
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