Friday, February 19, 2010

Pretty Good


The Dave Ramsey facebook page had an awesome quote as his status today:


"We've always done it that way" doesn't make it right or the best option. Remember "good" can sometimes be the enemy of "best". 


It reminded me of a poem I read for a "lit program" performance in High School Speech. I still remembered some of the lines, which made it easier to find on the internet, and also proves that it must have had a big effect on me if I remember it over 10 years later. It helps remind me to strive for greatness, not just settling for being "pretty good."



    Pretty Good

      by Charles Osgood from the Osgood File, 1986
There once was a pretty good student 
Who sat in a pretty good class 
And was taught by a pretty good teacher 
Who always let pretty good pass. 
He wasn’t terrific at reading, 
He wasn’t a whiz-bang at math, 
But for him, education was leading 
Straight down a pretty good path. 
He didn’t find school too exciting, 
But he wanted to do pretty well, 
And he did have some trouble with writing 
Since nobody taught him to spell. 
When doing arithmetic problems, 
Pretty good was regarded as fine. 
5+5 needn’t always add up to be 10; 
A pretty good answer was 9. 
The pretty good class that he sat in 
Was part of a pretty good school, 
And the student was not an exception: 
On the contrary, he was the rule. 
The pretty good school that he went to 
Was there in a pretty good town, 
And nobody there seemed to notice 
He could not tell a verb from a noun. 
The pretty good student in fact was 
Part of a pretty good mob. 
And the first time he knew what he lacked was 
When he looked for a pretty good job. 
It was then, when he sought a position, 
He discovered that life could be tough, 
And he soon had a sneaking suspicion 
Pretty good might not be good enough. 
The pretty good town in our story 
Was part of a pretty good state 
Which had pretty good aspirations 
And prayed for a pretty good fate. 
There once was a pretty good nation 
Pretty proud of the greatness it had, 
Which learned much too late, 
If you want to be great, 
Pretty good is, in fact, pretty bad.

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