“Good” is the mortal enemy of “great.”
So says Jim Collins, author of “GOOD TO GREAT: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … And Others Don’t”. And I happen to agree with him.
While certainly none of us are superheroes and able to consistently leap tall buildings in a single bound, at the end of the day can you honestly say that when you decided to do something, you gave it your all? Or did you make the choice to do just enough to get by? Or less?
Unfortunately, “good enough”, that one-size-fits-all garden-variety mediocrity seems to have entrenched itself in our society. It runs the gamut from children think getting a “C” is good enough (when they are capable of doing better) to workers putting in their 8 hours and not a moment more, even if that means they walk out on a crisis (which I have, unfortunately, personally witnessed; and I mean before the Obama administration took office).
I don’t get it. That wasn’t how I was raised and while, sure, there are plenty of things I no longer care if I do well (like cooking, since I “eat to live” instead of “living to eat”), when it comes to my real job – whether corporate, volunteer, or avocation – I continually strive to not only give it my very best but to also try to do better every day. I don’t really expect to beat out all the competition all the time, but when I lay down my head I’m satisfied that my striving has at least resulted in personal growth.
I’ve learned to give up chasing the dreams of others for which I am not suited and instead to follow those that are truly fulfilling to me, as an individual. Therefore, my success is not measured by the amount of money I make, it is not measured by the type of home in which I live, nor am I defined by my job title. I know what I know and, much more importantly, I now know how much I don’t know. And I no longer try to fake it just so someone else will have a higher opinion of who they think I am.
So it is with sad interest that I watch our government go about its business. Allowing the misguided, the incapable, and the downright incompetent a place at a table at which they have no business and allowing things like pieces of paper or, now, even skin color to create some hateful class divide that separates the “knows” and the “don’t knows”, that separates the “rich” from the “middle class” from the “deserving poor”.
Frankly, I don’t see people as pieces of paper, nor do I see them defined by their color. What I do see, however, are stupid people. And I find it offensive that there are those who would force me to look at the world on those terms. That there are those who would measure my self-worth by such useless definitions and to then find me lacking.
Sorry, big O., I’m not stupid. I really don’t mean to make you feel feel insecure, but I’m quite sure that my IQ is far higher than yours. And I’m quite sure that I have far better manners than you do, as witnessed by your glaringly rude treatment of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. But the difference is that I don’t hold your ignorance against you. Nor do I think any less or any more of you because your race is different than mine. When you peel away everything, humans are simply humans and though I find most of what comes out of your mouth to range from abhorrent to horrifying, because I am an American, I will defend to the death your right to state your opinion. And I will defend your right to look like a fool.
But because I am an American, I will also fight to the death to retain the right to state my opinion. And I will fight to put you back down to the level of incompetance at which you, and others like you, really belong. Because to serve the American people is a privilege. And because your “good” is the mortal enemy of the greatness upon which this country was founded.