Month: September 2023

East coast people are a little like homing pigeons. Plunk us down anywhere and the first thing we seek out is water.

Random thoughts on a drizzly Monday.

Made soap this morning. Had a vision in mind but didn’t exactly turn out as I wanted. “Oh, well,” I thought, “I did the best I could.” One thought leads to another and at the end of my musing, I came to the conclusion that ‘the best I could’ has, sadly, become too acceptable in too many places.

I heard a story once about a first rate pilot who one day ‘hesitated’ – only for a millisecond – but by nightfall had written his resignation letter. The best he could was not good enough.

I do not want to hire a plumber who did ‘the best he could’. Nor a doctor, an electrician, a teacher, a taxi driver, a chef, a carpenter, a housecleaner, a lawyer, a seamstress, a waitress or a soap maker. If you can’t do the job you are paid to do, you are, quite simply and quite clearly, in the wrong profession. But it doesn’t seem to matter.

It is rare to hear of anyone getting fired anymore. We are protected by unions, human rights, and a second chance society that provides training, mentoring, and supports for employees who thirty years ago would have been booted off the first rung of the ladder.

Here’s my soap. I’m going to try it again because upon reflection ‘the best I could’ could be a lot better.

This is the first batch. The second batch will be twice-loved tomorrow.