Do your best. I remember my parents using those words often when we all were growing up. Whether it was when we were studying for a test, working on a school project or participating in a sport or activity. Do your best.
To be honest I never really took stock in those words; I guess I just felt like it was a phrase that parents said. It was a type of “we have to say that” because it is part of the rules of parenting. I am sure those words were used for a lot of us, and even today we find ourselves using those words in a variety of situations we find ourselves in, whether it be as a parent, grandparent, little league coach, teacher or even friend.
These words should allow us to find comfort. Right? I mean, if we have given our “best” shouldn’t that be enough? Shouldn’t knowing that we have “left everything out there” make us satisfied and happy at what we have attempted and accomplished?
In our world today I think the lines of doing your best and perfection have been blurred immensely. We have created in ourselves an expectation that things should always be perfect in everything that we experience. Our order at the drive thru should be there immediately. I can’t believe I have to wait in line at the grocery store. What do you mean you close in 5 minutes — I just got here. Maybe it’s not so much we expect perfection, as much as that we expect we should not be inconvenienced.
When I was writing this, I decided to again consult my writing assistant: Google, to take a look at what the meaning of inconvenienced was. According to Merriam Webster the definition is “to cause problems or trouble for.” As the way many dictionaries work, they also list the opposite meaning words to help clarify the meaning as well. This time it listed only one word: help.
Right there sums up what is happening in our world today. We have let COVID-19 become our inconvenience, which for so many of us it has been. It has become our cause for most of our problems and a lot of our trouble. We have let it completely consume our thoughts, words, and actions. We have gone from being people who care for each other and that are just trying our best. To people who are filled with anger, fear, hate and loathing of people who have opinions or feelings that are different from you.
How did we get here? How did our community, country and world come to this stage in our history? A couple of months ago I wrote about how history will remember how we handled the COVID pandemic of 2020, at that point I was optimistic that we would be able to get through these tough times by working together and letting kindness, love and compassion rule our decision making and behaviors. In my heart I still believe that those things will win out; I truly do. But every day that I turn on the TV, or scroll through social media outlets doubt is created in me. So many of us have let the inconvenience that is COVID-19 rule our lives. We have gone and forgotten the opposite of inconvenience in our world: help.
Many people ask, what can I do to help at this time when there is so much doubt and pain in the world? In my opinion there are many great opportunities: donate to the food pantries if you are able, support local businesses, treat yourself to one of our many great local eateries, light a candle and say some prayers, give blood. The list could go on. But to be honest, I believe that the simplest way for us to overcome this inconvenience is to say “thank you” to all those who are simply doing their best. To the decision makers that care for members of our community, to school leaders trying to prepare to bring students safely back to school, to the health care workers, to the daycare providers, and those that work to bring groceries to your table. Thank you for doing your best, that’s it. That is all that needs to be said.
By saying thank you it doesn’t necessarily mean you agree with their decisions, but it does mean that you respect the time, effort and pain that they have put into making the decision, or creating the plan. You respect the fact that their job isn’t easy, you respect the fact that their decisions aren’t going to make everyone happy. You respect the fact that you wouldn’t want to be making the decisions that they have to make. Thank you says you respect them as a person, which is all that anyone wants in this world. Remember the phrase that many of our parents used in raising us, just do you best. That is all anyone can ask of you. You can’t be everything for everybody all the time. At the end of the day, decision makers and leaders only have so much to give. What these people deserve is our simple thanks. Thank you for doing your best.
Isn’t it funny, even after all of these years of being a “grown up” my parents still end up being right. When they challenged us to just do our best, they were right, like they always were. Thank you, Mom and Dad, for always doing your best when raising us. Thank you for encouraging us to do our best, to give 100%. I didn’t appreciate it as much as I should have.
— Joe Peters is the principal at St. Victor School in Monroe. He can be reached at joepeters@stvictormonroe.org.
