I don’t mean to use the word, “complain.”   Rather, I meditate on what is the most-appropriate use of these classes, having observed a case which (in my mind) does not properly apply their strengths or reap their benefits in the best way.   The issue of “using outside SQL” (the necessity of it, the (dis)advantages of it, what to do when nothing else is as clear, etc. etc. etc.) is another koan entirely.   They truly are “meditations,” because there are no pat answers to be found.   “Everything is a trade-off.   How and what, then, shall you choose to trade?”   Indeed.