Up In Flames

Record holder for the most gold medals won by a single person at the Olympics. Rock and roll hall of fame-er. Chairman of the board for a charity that reaches out to young children without homes of their own. Champion BBQ master. Or otherwise recognized as that guy that was caught smoking pot, the drug abuser, the thief and the guy that had the heat just a little too high, a little too long that one time.

Whatever it is that we seem capable to accomplish, we are always remembered by the failures. Or at least that's how it appears. The Hollywood star or the pastor of the local church, they are always brought down by that one thing. Whatever it is and however insignificant it is in the long term, that one thing will always haunt them wherever they go. They can no longer be recognized for the good they did but instead that one black spot on their record. This is now their defining characteristic.

I have seen this with regular people as well as the super rich and popular individuals we have under the microscope. We have one time criminals from all backgrounds that can't find work because they were with someone doing something that one time. We have artists being judged by the one painting they submitted that will never paint again due to poor turnout at a gallery opening.

Do not let that one time bring you down. Although second chances are hard to come by sometimes, they are out there.Learn from your mistakes and move on. Don't give up on yourself and don't look down on others when they might leave the food on the grill too long. They can do better. And so can you.

Good Enough

After traveling hundreds of miles in a cattle drawn wagon for two years through the plains of the midwest and over mountains higher than you have ever seen in your life, you would come to find yourself tired and weak. I have been to the Oregon Trail museum and read the journal entries of the people who made that long journey and I have read about the overwhelming relief they found when they finally reached the pacific coast. But several didn't make it. Some did not starve or become ill. Some just gave up. "Well, here is as good as any other place I suppose." I can just hear it as they began to unpack the wagon, setting their supplies and personal belongings down on the dusty desert floor not realizing they were only few hilltops to the land promised them. Here is good enough.

I suppose there was a man (had to have been a guy) that decided one day, "I am tired of spending so much money on toilet paper. I know, I will make it half as thick!" Why would you need more than that? And we have had to put up with the curse of single ply ever since. But it should be good enough.

One day someone walks into a store, sees a spatula on a rack, and they say to themselves, "I bet I can make a cheaper version of that." And the dollar store was born. A one dollar spatula is as good as a five dollar one right? It will work good enough.

What happened to striving for excellence? What happened to wanting to be the best or build the best or give the best? What happened to setting standards and goals and working hard to accomplish them? Today, money is tight but I still refuse to settle for good enough.