Thought for the Day
“…Fear is a big part of me and I’d like to say that I have all the trust and patience and like to relax, but that’s not my makeup. [Fear] pushes me on and keeps me practicing, keeps me getting into the gym, so I have to work with it and use it.”
Padraig Harrington, after winning the 2008 (British) Open Golf Championship for the second, and consecutive, time
Fear; pride; self respect. Call it what you will. These emotions motivate us, inspire us, and drive us to achieve excellence.
Excellence, however, is relative. Anyone and everyone—yes, anyone and everyone—can achieve excellence in some way, shape, or form. I know, for example, that I have done many excellent things in my life, and so have you.
So have we all. Never doubt that.
Perfection, on the other hand, is absolute. No one, other than the God of many religions, can achieve that. Indeed, one can say with some essentially pure logic that Perfection = God.
Only God can do it.
Excellence, on the other hand, is a striving after perfection, in the sure knowledge that perfection, by mere humans, cannot be achieved. This is why we will never be satisfied. Never. Not even if the planet somehow survives a billion more years.
A million, even a billion years hence, if we humans are still around, we will still be striving after perfection, and still achieving excellence in perfection’s pursuit.
© Bernard John Poole, Yvonne Singer, 1996-2008, All rights reserved / poole@pitt.edu, ysinger@worldnet.att.net / (814) 269-2923 / Revised