In Praise of Mediocrity

So I'm standing in the kitchen one day dicing tomatillos, when my roommate wanders in and we engage in conversation. And as is often the way these days the talk turns to a favorite topic: preventing mediocrity. Then a thought occurs to me.

"Really now," I ask. "Just what is wrong with mediocrity?"

"What?"

"What's wrong with people or concerns doing things in a 'just good enough' sort of way. What's wrong with a slap-dash, get-it-out-quick sort of methodology?"

"Everything. It's that sort of thinking that makes the world, and many things in it, so difficult and frustrating. Sometimes even dangerous. Would you want poorly trained surgeon opening up your heart?"

"Point taken. But certain fields like surgery or airline piloting aside, I think that there's a lot to be said for mediocrity. Particularly in my own life."

"For example . . . ?"

"Well, for example take my carpentry work. I can't tell you how much of my income over the past several years has been generated by abject stupidity and/or general laziness. It has been the overall incompetence of others that has kept me working at repairing and remodeling."

I dumped the tomatillos into the pan where they began to sizzle nicely while I chopped garlic. Pungent aromas wafted the room.

"And consider also my work in the theatre," I added. "Over the years I've acquired more than a few month's rent from that. From directing to set construction I have been involved with several community theatres. I would bring a sort of passion, some good and useful knowledge, a car full of tools and a 'can-do' sort of attitude. People would tell me their ideas and dreams and I would amaze them with manifestations of those dreams. And do it in budget. That would then lead to other jobs."

The garlic and shallots went into the green-wonder sizzling in the pan. Lowering the heat I stood and stirred as my roommate queried about the relevance of those experiences.

"Well," I said adding the chopped chilies. "The groups I worked with had been producing so many things for so many years with so many of the same methods and materials that they could rarely see that there were other possibilities. Many of these people knew of those other possibilities. They would attend 'professional' shows and return with stories regarding 'the way Disney did it'. Yet, they couldn't see that those same ideas were just as accessible to their little community theatre. I became a miracle-man garnering lots of work and celebrity. And I owe it all to mediocre approaches. Without the 'that's good enough' thinking I'd be just another stagehand making someone else's marvel work."

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