February 27, 2015 (Friday)
I started my income tax return this week, using a computer program. I have used this program for a number of years and have had great success with it. It doesn’t cost much and provides free electronic filing so it virtually pays for itself. Never had a problem with it.
Until now.
The program seems to have a glitch in it. If I leave it alone and let it do what it wants it will have me paying almost $3000 more in taxes than I owe. The program allows for my manually changing some numbers but if I do that I will have to attach an explanation and I will not be allowed to use e-file. Oh, did I mention the company was bought and is now owned by one of the huge giants of the tax world. Methinks that is the problem. I am working with a nice person in the helps department but I don’t think he will be able to solve my problem. It’s in the program itself and it never had a problem until the big guys took it over.
One thing is certain. My computer here at home does exactly what it is told to do by the instructions given to it. Don’t you wish everything worked that way? Wives could program their husbands always to remember their wedding anniversary. Husbands could program their wives to…no, I won’t go down that road. I was trained better than that. Students could be programed to keep up with their studies. Preachers could be programed to preach a good sermon every time. And on we could go.
We can’t program each other. If we stop and think about it, I think we’ll decide that’s not a good idea. Many of the happy moments of life take place because of our human unpredictability. Hardly any of us would want a mate that is perfect, for that would show us up as imperfect. Think we would like to have perfect kids? Think again. They already think they know more than their parents. What if it were really so?
For the computers, perfection in following commands is needed. For us, not so much. With all of our imperfections, we can strive daily to get better.
“Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, Or what’s a heaven for?” (Robert Browning).