Eadarian Network

Hello my friend,

Welcome to the 62nd installment of The Creative Journey, the experience of one Charles Yerkes, Eadarian Poet, perpetuator, and otherwise mildly creative and excessively modest personage.

Good vs. Best Part 1:

It has been said that the enemy of the best is not the worst, but the good that is not good enough.

I know this is not what I thought this blog post would be about, but as this blog does reflect my thought process, it also turns and twists and changes more ever than so often, so hang on and enjoy the ride.

One of the greatest needs of our time is the rediscovery of the joy of postponed gratification, the rediscovery of the joy found in declining minor satisfactions for the receiving of greater, richer, and more intense ones; to reach and obtain the best for us and not settle for the mere good. And the merely good will always steal the best away from you if you let it.

For example…

The joy of sleeping in and not practicing long and hard will steal from you the joy of winning the big race.

The joy of one more candy bar will steal from you the joy of staying trim.

The joy of feeling warm and fuzzy about yourself all the time will steal from you the joy of self – improvement.

Notice this is about a choice of joys, of satisfactions. One choice will give greater and longer lasting gratification while the other gives briefer and less satisfying gratification. We are not here pitting wrong against right. None of the above would be considered “bad” or “morally reprehensible”. In all the choices, one does negate the other, but in and of themselves, they are not ‘wrong’ choices.

But the briefer and more immediate gratifications are the enemy of those we would truly enjoy the most, that would satisfy us the most. Kind of like…

The child, who being told that Giant Pandas were going to make an appearance at the local zoo for the up coming summer, spends the whole school year getting excited about seeing them. He reads all about Giant Pandas in the library, talks excitedly to friends about going, and even does extra chores around the house to earn some extra money to go.

Then one the day his folks can take him to the zoo, they stop at the child’s favorite restaurant to make an extra special day of this event. Everything goes well until the waiter brings the dessert tray, which has on it a giant chocolate cake. The child, in the exhilaration of the day, becomes very excited by the possibility of eating that large slice of chocolate yummy – ness. The only problem is that his folks only have enough money for the lunch and the ticket to the zoo, not for the added cost of the dessert or anything else. Times are hard after all. If the child gets the cake he will not have enough money to also get a ticket to the zoo and so after the cake he will be taken home and will miss out on seeing the Pandas.

The child, knowing this, but because of the elation of the moment, still chooses the cake, because it is here, now, immediate. All his summer planning is gone. The joy of seeing the Pandas is gone. Why? He chose a good that brought instant gratification over what really mattered most to him, over what would have brought him the most joy.

To be continued…

Charles Yerkes
Eadarian Poet, Perpetuator, Photographer, and Fiddle Player

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To choose a past installment(s) of The Creative Journey click here. To view a Quote of the Week, click here.

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