Thanks to Vince, in our monthly men’s group, for choosing to facilitate last Saturday’s session on “doing your best” – now a great topic for Study Hall this week. “Best” is a powerful (and sometimes loaded) term which means different things to different people. The word means “superior” and we think of “best” in words like “as good as it gets.”
Yet, there may well be flaws even in anything that may up to that point be the best. Churchill famously said, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried from time to time.” He acknowledges its flaws, but asserts that democracy is the best form of government compared to other forms.
The concept of “doing your best” does not mean perfection, but it does imply an advance intention of taking action as “well” as you can. There’s “best” for the individual and “best” for the group, so how do you reconcile that often different points of view? How do you feel about doing your best? What is the appropriate role of comparison in doing your best?