Life Lessons - Fourth Grade

We often like to compare ourselves to others as a measuring stick.  It’s only logical because it’s difficult to assess one’s own abilities and situations in a vacuum.  Sometimes these comparisons provide us with the validation we need to explain our sense of pride over a good outcome or our feeling of acceptance over a bad one.  Or so I thought.  Good grades weren’t just appreciated in my family, they were expected.  For the most part, I was able to deliver.  There was a particular science (always my least favorite subject) test this year where I scored very poorly; I'm pretty certain it was a 'D’.  I was somewhat pacified by the fact that over half the class failed this test.  So I was still better than half the class.  Surely that had to count for something, right?  My mom would hear none of it.  “But moooommmm, over half the class failed.”  “I don’t care about the other kids, I care about you...[more rambling about not following other kids if they jumped off a bridge]”  She understood that merely besting my classmates did not directly correlate to a successful academic career.  Good is good because it’s good not because it’s better than not good. (Feeling a little dumber after reading that sentence? You could read it again slowly but I’d recommend just moving on.)  It’s like playing golf; you’re really playing the course and not your riding partner.  If you shoot 40 over to his 50 over, do you really walk away feeling good about yourself?  (I might but I really suck at golf.)  I can’t say I don’t make those types of comparisons anymore.  Life is one big scoreboard and we always want to see where our name falls on it.  But I learned not to let anyone else’s failures be the justification for my own.  You can also be sure I never tried that argument again after a bad grade…that is, unless I had nothing else to go to. J