Good enough

Brian Wilson

I woke up with a nightmare on Wednesday morning.

I was in high school taking a surprise social studies test and was doing poorly. My pencil had broken and I was rummaging in my book bag for something to write with and my 11th grade American History teacher Mr. Lowe came by and started to lecture me for dawdling and made a mark on the paper taking points off because I wasn’t focused on the test of obscure popular culture items. “Do you think this is good enough Mr. Wilson?” my teacher asked, at which point I woke up.

Mr. Lowe was one of my favorite teachers in high school, and even after more than 30 years I still keep in touch with him. If anyone travels to Philadelphia and visits the historic areas, chances are you will run into him dressed up like George Washington and giving out living history lessons about the founding fathers.

There are probably websites or magazine articles I could consult that will tell me my bad dream was due to deep seated psychological problems and that I should probably be seeing a therapist or, perhaps, that I need to drink more water and eat more oatmeal. It always seems to be either one or the other with those things.

However, the dream unsettled me enough that it took me a while to go back to sleep. I will fully admit that having a nightmare about failing a high school test probably speaks volumes about how lame my life is, but hey, I have to work with the material I have.

The phrase that I remember most from the dream was being asked if I thought my work was “good enough.”

Like many people, I was raised to believe that having something “good enough” was never really enough. It was settling for a C because you were too lazy to put in the effort to earn the A. It was pounded into me that if you could do better, you should do better.

Last Friday, Father Patrick was giving me a tour of the remodeling that is nearing completion at Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Medford. He noted the special features such as the mosaic by the altar that was made for the church by artists in Lebanon and of the use of marble in the area around the altar. He noted that there were those who disagreed with the choices, but that he felt when you consider the church as the house of God, it should be better than just good enough.

On Monday I was reading an essay where the writer was complaining about a recent trend of television executives ordering writers to produce shows knowing that people would be scrolling through their phones while “watching it” or as others put it “folding laundry” shows to have in the background while doing other tasks - much like cleaning your garage while listening to radio broadcasts of baseball games.

The writer was shocked that an executive would ask for something that was just good enough when they should be putting that effort into creating shows that were works of art and that moved people. Yeah, but what if people don’t want to be moved, but just want something on to distract them as they are doing a monotonous task?

All of these thoughts were swirling around in my head in the dark hours of the morning after I woke up from my dream keeping me awake despite the soothing whoosh clack of my CPAP machine attempting to lull me back to sleep.

A cold reality is that in many instances, good enough is exactly that. One rag is much the same as another when it comes to sopping up a spilled drink or a baby’s bottom.

It is a challenge to those who strive to do the best possible job they can, to be told to do something just good enough.

I am not sure where the balance rests. You can break your heart striving for excellence in what, to another person, is disposable, but at the same time to know that you could have done more, done better, is equally disheartening.

Many times this balance is made for us in the form of deadlines and the resources available.

So, to my nightmare Mr. Lowe, I say, “No, it is not good enough, but I will do my best.” Even if I end up failing, I will know I have done that much, and perhaps in the end that will be good enough.

Brian Wilson is News Editor at The Star News.