America is full of ubiquitous mantras. Like “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” “live in the moment,” or “supersize that.” Most of us go through the day, hearing, saying and seeing these without a second thought.
But there’s one mantra that penetrates deep into the “American Dream.” It penetrates so far into the American psyche, that we are drugged with it from the moment we are born.
“It’s all right you didn’t succeed as long as you tried your best.”
The Earth and the planets revolve around the sun, and America’s peace of mind revolves around this vague, outdated, despicable, unforgivable, pathetic excuse that serves as the ultimate safety net when we are unable to attain our projected goals. It’s an invitation to wallow in our own self-pity, and the ultimate defense against anyone who challenges our efforts or our work ethic. Anyone who criticizes us can be made out to be someone who is unhappy with effort and unnecessarily harsh. We can just hide behind the fact that we “tried our best.”
With this traditional, home-grown, customary, deep-rooted American ideal, we should be proud of our heritage and the fact that we encourage and breed mediocrity even more prolifically than rabbits in Australia. How do you measure when someone is doing their best? Is there a scale or units of measurement? Are there formulas pertaining to an individual’s capacity to progress in the world? The phrase is so subjective and ambiguous, and lies so nascent within this nation, that we simply utter it in times of need or defense.
This is a fundamental error that will never change, simply because we refuse to accept the fact that often our best is simply not good enough. If we were not taught that we would make the cut by “doing our best,” then we would not be disappointed when we got rejected from the college of our choice, or could not land the job we wanted.
But really, the thing that horrifies me is the fact that many people are simply willing to accept the fact that they will never try their best. We don’t live in a world where effort matters anymore. No, you won’t pass a class by trying your best, you will pass a class by putting the right words on paper on test day, and by showing that you have the capability to get the required score for a certain field. And the best way we can achieve that? By not settling for what we think is our best, because in the right situation with the right conditions, we can also be pushed further.
Surjo Bandyopadhyay is a sophomore physiology and neurobiology major. He can be reached at surjobandyopadhyay@gmail.com.
