"Don't forget the coaster"

I’ve never understood the appeal of covers.

Yes. I’m talking couch covers, car-bras, placemats, coasters, and so on.

I get that the utilitarian wants to extend the life of their possessions. But the thing is, having an unappealing veneer coating your belongings is just as much a blotch as the defects you’re trying to avoid.

And, if you are going to use an opaque cover…why would you care about the other side? If you can’t see it, it makes no difference if there’s a mark or not.

Of course, this doesn’t just apply to physical goods…but to the expectations we set, and the stance we choose to embrace. If you go around acting like a (impossible to prevent) blemish is the end of the world, well, how does that posture effect how you carry yourself (or how those around you feel)?

Rand Pausch tells the story of how, after he just bought a new Volkswagen Cabrio, he picked up his niece and nephew for a car ride. After their mother sternly warned them not to mess up anything (unrealistic expectations...especially for kids), Randy deliberately poured a can of soda onto the back seat. Randy wanted to convey the message that “people are more important than things,” but I’d argue that it also imparts the idea that “what we use things for is far more important than their appearance.”

Covers (and the insistence of them) send the opposite message. Rather than accepting that imperfections are fact of life, they encourage us to use a facade to avoid (and conceal) blemishes and "insufficiencies", encouraging the kinds of compulsive and antagonistic behaviors that create shame and reinforce perfectionism.

In my view, the culture we embrace and the culture we support matters far more than a few specks or blots.