Why is QWERTY a thing?

QWERTY

You might recognize the non-word from your keyboard. It has come to be the name of the standard layout of most letter input devices. Once upon a time, it was the standard for typewriters and so it also found its way onto the personal computer. Now even your smartphone text layout is the same.

Ever wonder why?

It not because it is the best way to type. In fact, it is the worse way! The inventor of the layout Christopher Sholes consulted an educator to find out the most common letter pairs in the English language and then spilt them as far apart on the keyboard. This was to slow down the typist. The layout prevented jams in the typewriter so the machine could operate at a consistent speed, not a faster one.

Now we don’t have to worry about jams but the layout hasn’t changed. There have been better layouts built and proven to be faster and more efficient yet we can’t seem to make the change over from what has always been the standard.

People have a hard time letting go of something they have always done even if something better comes along. It’s foolish but it common. The writer of Hebrews sees it in the response to the New Covenant over Old Law. Time and time again as he is showing the better way Christ has brought, he stops to warn his readers to not fall back in old ways. There is a real danger in staying in the status quo. You never move on to something better.

It’s hard to change even when it is better. It is easy to keep doing what you done even if it takes you nowhere. However, ease isn’t our ally. There may be some growing pains but that means we are growing not ‘shrinking back to destruction’. Tried and true might be making us died and thru.

Instead of thinking about what do I always do, let’s think about how much more I could be doing.

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