HOW MUCH DO YOU CARE
When I got married to my beautiful wife, I made the decision to care for her in the standard set by society for what a "good" marriage was. I was going to get her the car of her choice, that runs better than mine. I wasn't going to take my paycheck and head to the bars; I was going to let her direct all the funding. I wasn't going to cheat on her, or at least I wasn't going to flaunt it to all of society. We were of course going to have 2.3 children, as that was the standard of that time and day. Any more children would be selfish.
THAT'S NUTS
If I managed to eke out a living while matching the standards of society for caring for my betrothed, then society would believe that I had a "good" marriage. Anything below that standard would mean that I had a "bad" marriage, and anything above that standard would mean that I had a "great" marriage and my wife was privileged. I'd like to think that I care for my wife more than some standard determined by some third party group, and that I make an effort to understand and fulfill her very specific needs. She can be independent and require peaceful, quiet, alone time and I am none of those three. I'm almost the exact opposite at times.
TOO MUCH, TOO LITTLE
Standards of care would lead me to judge my behavior in my marriage on some arbitrary standard set by a set of experts appointed by society, instead of a standard set by my God. Even churches or religions set standards that have no basis, but standards are everywhere. Whether you know it or not, the rulers of your world rule your life with standards that they have deemed good enough.
MEDIOCRE WORLD OF GOOD ENOUGH
We live in a world where we have become comfortable with good enough. It's rare to see anything beyond that anymore. The roads are just good enough. The level of service at a service establishment is usually good enough. In some cases, you're allowed to pay extra for better service, but, in most cases, you're just greeted with the same level of service everyone else gets which some magical entity or ruling class has set to be good enough.
WHAT IF WE DO BETTER?
What if we challenge ourselves to do better? What if we as individuals wake up each morning and say we can be better than average? What if we put in extra effort and do better than average or the standard set for us by those that rule us? What happens to us?
BETTER THAN GOOD ENOUGH
If we do better than good enough, there are consequences. If we are in a class of people that are ignored by our rulers and their courts, attorneys, and their police forces then we might skate by for a while and enjoy some benevolence. But, at some point, someone will cry "unfair," and society will step in and fix the problem and make sure that no one does the extraordinary in the society that prefers the ordinary. And, if we are a doctor, an engineer, or some other professional and we exceed that standard of care, then we are opening ourselves up for litigation, costly court appearances, scorn by our peers, and possible cancellation by society.
THE CHALLENGE TO BE BETTER
I personally refuse to get comfortable in the land of "good enough." I want to be better. Whenever I have the opportunity, I hang out with those that are not satisfied in the land of "good enough." Because, I think each one of you deserves better. And, if you need help getting out of that comfort zone of "good enough," spend some time looking in the mirror and saying "Is this good enough?"
ME
I hope you'll join me on that journey to a land where everyone strives to do better than just "good enough," because you likely deserve better. In any case, I need to improve my writing, which is getting better, but still isn't "good enough." Feel free to follow my ramblings at the links listed below: