Does our society reward excellence,does it encourage mediocrity, or have we created a society in which both traits can survive side-by-side? Should excellence and mediocrity ever be bedfellows? Should we, as a society, tolerate and reward mediocrity?
I'll answer my own proverbial question with a resounding, emphatic, and unequivocal NO, NO, A THOUSAND TIMES, NO!!!!! Mediocrity is the quickest route to failure. Taking the Mediocre Highway is like taking Chicago's express lanes to nowhere......fast. Mediocre is the opposite of success.
True, accepting mediocrity as the highest rung on a success ladder may seem to bring faster results and quicker rewards but those results and rewards will be empty, hollow and temporary. It may seem that most people want to "cozy" up to the mediocre person, place, thing, action, or outcome because, well, because mediocrity looks like fun. It is most certainly easier to strive for mediocrity than to hold out for excellence because, deep down inside, we all want to have a good time. What we do not realize is that it is actually easier, in the long run, to strive for excellence, both for ourselves and any group or organization that we belong to or are affiliated with.
Is perfection the same thing as excellence? Again, NO, NO, A THOUSAND TIMES, NO!! Perfection is simply not attainable. To be perfect is to be not human. However, striving for excellence can be both noble and rewarding. Programs, organizations, and individuals that seek excellence in all they do are often the most successful in terms of retention, loyalty, cameraderie, spirit d'corps, and integrity. I believe that we humans will naturally gravitate towards excellence if it is offered. We appreciate excellence and excellence will be rewarded with both our own personal satisfaction and the satisfaction of knowing that we encouraged others to strive for excellence.
I'll answer one last question - the query that I posed in the title of today's posting, "When is excellence not an option?", with one word that creates a double negative: NEVER! Excellence should always be the option of first, second, third, fourth, ad infinatum.......choice.
Let's remove mediocrity from our vocabularies, here and now!
Ancora imparo
