Stumbling on the Details

Xuefeng

August 24, 2021

On January 28, 1986, the American Challenger launched and exploded seventy-three seconds later, killing all seven of its astronauts in the space shuttle. What was the problem? The O-ring seal of the solid rocket booster on the right side failed. Such a large and complex collection of super-advanced science and technology resulted in a disaster that could not be avoided just because of the failure of a small, inconspicuous sealing ring. We had stumbled over a detail.

Xie Anna, a twenty-four-year-old computer engineer and job seeker stood out in a competition among several thousand competitors and was selected because of her excellent performance during her interview with the boss, but when she went back to the boss' office to retrieve the silk gloves she had left on the cabinet by the door when she first walked in, the boss noticed what she was doing. The next day, when she had not received a call for employment, she became concerned and called to ask why. The general manager answered that “We had already chosen you, but then we found that you are forgetful. We engage in the design of electronic circuits and there must be no mistakes". She had stumbled over a detail.

On August 21, 2021, a young couple checked into my small hotel. Judging by their appearance and temperament, they appeared to be South American, and judging by their cars and clothes, they seemed to be having economic difficulties, however they could stay in the high-end hotel that I manage, which showed me that they had certain patterns and methods to their pursuits. Late in the afternoon, the lady brought a box of food to be heated in the microwave. When I asked why they had come here, she said they wanted jobs. At that time, a desire arose in me to keep the couple in my hotel, but the next day I cooked breakfast for them and they were supposed to be ready at eight o'clock sharp because I had everything ready for them at that time, but I waited and waited, and they did not come downstairs for almost an hour and it was then that I dispelled the idea of ​​keeping them. Why? Because an unpunctual person is someone you cannot count on and someone who will screw up jobs, so how could I keep them? Punctuality is a kind of faith, a lack of the former proves a lack of the latter, and people who do not have faith are unreliable. Perhaps they never knew that the real reason why they had arrived at the gate of heaven but had not been able to enter was only that one detail. Again, they had stumbled over a detail.

Details are not unintentional accidental phenomena; they embody the meaning of people’s LIVEs and they are comprehensive manifestations of their upbringings, self-restraint, and self-cultivation. If the details go wrong, it must be that the person lacks having enough self-improvement and self-cultivation.

When people face dilemmas, their problems must lie in the imperfection of certain details, but they may never know that it is their imperfection of one or a few details that has led to their dilemmas.