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In Pursuit of Excellence
May. 31st, 2006 09:47 pmThis is something i've been thinking about quite a bit of late.
How often do we settle for adequacy, mediocrity, and the like rather than insisting on something better? Skipping all the pop-psych mumbo-jumbo and related marketing claptrap, why don't we hold out for something better when we have the opportunity?
Making reference to a personal preference, once you sit down and write with a good pen, you'll never want to go back to a cheap one, because the difference in quality is that evident. Bic Biro pens are fine as long as that's all you know, but try a nice one sometime. Personally, my daily writer is a Lamy Safari Vista medium nib fountain pen. It was a significantly higher investment (at about $25, in contrast to the $0.29 or so for a Biro), but it feels good, writes very predictably, and can be filled repeatedly with whatever colour ink strikes my fancy- violet and black are favourites, but i've been known to venture into peacock blue or green from time to time. Haven't gotten brave enough to try the browns Neil Gaiman prefers in his Lamy 2000s, but that's beside the point. It's worlds better than cheap, scratchy ballpoints.
How many people would rather eat McDonald's crap than have a good burger somewhere? Or prefer canned fruit to fresh? So, why are we so tolerant of mediocrity when excellence is so often in reach? I don't have good answers, but i think i've had enough of settling.
How often do we settle for adequacy, mediocrity, and the like rather than insisting on something better? Skipping all the pop-psych mumbo-jumbo and related marketing claptrap, why don't we hold out for something better when we have the opportunity?
Making reference to a personal preference, once you sit down and write with a good pen, you'll never want to go back to a cheap one, because the difference in quality is that evident. Bic Biro pens are fine as long as that's all you know, but try a nice one sometime. Personally, my daily writer is a Lamy Safari Vista medium nib fountain pen. It was a significantly higher investment (at about $25, in contrast to the $0.29 or so for a Biro), but it feels good, writes very predictably, and can be filled repeatedly with whatever colour ink strikes my fancy- violet and black are favourites, but i've been known to venture into peacock blue or green from time to time. Haven't gotten brave enough to try the browns Neil Gaiman prefers in his Lamy 2000s, but that's beside the point. It's worlds better than cheap, scratchy ballpoints.
How many people would rather eat McDonald's crap than have a good burger somewhere? Or prefer canned fruit to fresh? So, why are we so tolerant of mediocrity when excellence is so often in reach? I don't have good answers, but i think i've had enough of settling.
