I was recently in Miami and was amazed at how big the ships were as they made their way out of the ports. I watched as one came to a bridge and slowly, but surely, the bridge began to raise itself allowing the mammoth ship to pass by unfettered. As I was watching, I struck up a conversation with someone who was from the Tampa area and he talked about how his area handled similar situations to allow ships to pass. Rather than raise the bridge higher, they just told the ports not to allow ships in that were too big for their structure. Instead of raising the bridge, they lowered the ships. As you can imagine, Miami has a much busier port than the Tampa area due to no restraints on the size of the ships that enter and leave the area.<br />
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This contrast, as to how the two different cities looked at a problem began to make me think about how our society looks at similar raising and lowering issues. I've heard my whole life how important it is to always "raise the bar" when it comes to goals. This is true in everything we do from personal to professional endeavors. We are always looking for ways that we can get better and better at all we do. That is what we've always been told. <br />
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But, is the call for excellence really something that we should expect for ourselves? Or, is it really just a way to convince ourselves that we are always moving forward? In a time when action absolutely speaks louder than words, I am wondering if we are not depending on the unlimited amount of words to justify the less seldom occurrence of the action. <br />
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Complacency is as much of a fungus to our general root system as the boll weevil was to cotton. It is slowly but surely destroying anything that gets in its way. We are a society that is long on talking about goals and expectations, but we typically end up very short when it comes to doing those things that are needed. And, just as complacency does a number on us, it now travels with its proud friend justification. We can spout off a thousand reasons why we never get anything done and personal responsibility hardly ever makes the list. It's always the fault of someone or something else that prevents us from reaching our goal. It is the government's fault, it is discrimination, it is reverse discrimination, it is the economy, it is the system, it is this and it is that but it is never our fault.<br />
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And, if all of this is not bad enough, it gets worse. Somewhere along the way we made a determination that if we can no longer be successful at "raising the bar" we should simply "lower our standards". Yeah, that's the ticket that should do it. We have and continue to strategically lower the standard to a point where progress can be once again measured. It's like the basketball player who despite his attempts could never dunk the ball. So instead of putting in the work and enhancing his vertical abilities, someone just lowered the goal to 9 feet. All of a sudden this guy is doing dunks, reverse dunks, 360° dunks, and was slamming the ball like Dr. J. But, amidst all of the excitement and hoopla we forgot that Dr. J. played with a 10' goal and all of the 9 foot dunks in the world will never be as impressive as Dr. J slamming the ball as he soars above the net of the 10' goal. <br />
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This is no different than the philosophy that we have adopted in matters like education. If little Johnny can't cut the mustard on the high school graduation test, let's just change the test. Or, better yet, let's do away with the test all together. And, the lowering mindset goes on and on. It is not just 10' goals and graduation tests. It transcends into things like jobs, healthcare, and on and on. We are now too quick to lower the standard rather than raise the bar. The results will prove to be sobering as time passes. <br />
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In a country that has been the stimulus for some of the worlds greatest and most advanced technological innovations we are already starting to see the results of a "lowering" mentality. Other countries are putting in the work as the bar gets higher and higher. We are already behind some Asian countries in our science and math scores and overall level of understanding. We are talking about a country that put a man on the moon. Are we really sure we want to lower those kinds of expectations? Goals such as this and countless others that have been a beacon of pride for our country would have never been achieved. We should be embarrassed about the philosophies that we are pushing forward.<br />
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But, I suppose that it might be interesting at future athletic competitions. I can almost feel the excitement building for the 50 foot jog or the ever popular 15 yard low hurdles. I am sure we will set records like it's nobody's business. And, nothing yells success like a gold medal pole vaulter with a vault of 4'6". Ah, mediocrity, we used to avoid it at all costs. We now embrace it full throttle and in time we will surely and absolutely abhor its very existence. <br />
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And the crowd chanted
