What defines perfection for you? For some it’s a perfect score on an exam. A baseball game won with no runs from the opposing team. For others it’s more of a feeling of perfection. The sound of shifting from second gear into third at 7,000 rpm, the fly line landing perfectly still and the sound of a trout attacking its last meal. Maybe catching all the 38th Avenue green lights on a sunny Sunday morning with the perfect cup of Stylus coffee at your side. Maybe a perfectly tuned piano or guitar that makes you smile. The gymnast that stuck that landing for a perfect 10. Nadia was as perfect as could be.
For some, finding that quiet spot at Clancy’s and enjoying the world’s best burger with a side of mayo of course.
How far do we push for the perfect goal? How much less have we been conditioned to accept? Has contentment replaced striving for more? When did you start feeling like someone was lowering the bar every year? For you, your kids and everyone else around you? The quality of the driving? The driver who signals and just barges in front of you without looking? The school that redefines what success looks like and simply showing up becomes the new norm that’s rewarded with the same size and color ribbon. The restaurant that asks you to accept less than you ordered.
And with your friends, coworkers and family all lowering expectations of each other as we smile and celebrate mediocrity, we turn to each other in hopes that someone will say, “Enough. This is not good enough.”
And of course this includes everything. Subtruths in politics and economics. Masking opinions as facts. Racist and antisemitic comments on the pretense of humor.
Does the perfect product have to be of great quality or are we content with the lowest price? Did we trade price for quality? Is it possible to buy local at a lesser price? We’ve increased our minimum wage to $15 an hour but did we get an increase in service or quality?
As we cross over into a new year will you have a change of heart and start bringing your A game to every situation? Will you insist on better from others? Will you in turn give more? That’s how it starts. Asking for accountability would of course in turn mean being accountable ourselves. Driving a little better, being friendlier to restaurant staff, demanding the same from ourselves as we would from others.
As I write this and am still sore from this morning’s last COVID booster shot, I am reminded that perhaps we’ve spent these last two years simply being thankful for not dying. But I don’t don’t believe that I can live with just that. Just happy to be alive is no longer enough…is it for you?
Happy New Year my friends. My best wishes to you all, and as always, thanks for reading.
Contact Neighborhood Gazette Publisher Guy Nahmiach at WRGazette@gmail.com or 303-999-5789.
