A Done Thing is Better Than a Perfect Thing (Prepare yourself, Terri's about to rant.)

"A done thing is better than a perfect thing."

I keep hearing this sentiment passed around in different circles (from nieces and nephews talking about schoolwork to colleagues talking about manuscripts, to co-workers where I used to work, to crafters), in all walks of life.

 

And I call bullshit on that. Something doesn't have to be absolutely perfect to the point of obsession, but some of the garbage that passes muster these days doesn't even come close.

A done thing is better than a perfect thing.

·        Tell that to anyone who's had their car recalled (especially anyone who's had a serious accident because they weren't notified in time).

·        Tell that to anyone who's had a heart attack because the medicine that they were prescribed hadn't been tested enough.

·        Tell that to women who had deformed babies when they took thalidomide because that drug was under-researched.

·        Tell that to people who developed cancer from cyclamates.

·        Tell people who, on a day-to-day basis, buy inferior products because of the slipshod work ethic and bottom-line mentality prevailing in manufactories today.

·        Tell that to anyone who's been sold a book full of page after page of awkward sentences and spelling errors that distracted them from a good story.

·        Tell that to the families of the Challenger space shuttle whose lives were shattered because of faulty O rings.

 

Is this our legacy for the future?

If we raise our children with this mentality, they will carry it out into the world and do everything half-assed starting with washing the dishes at home for Mom and Dad, right on up to producing inferior products (if any at all), to raising the next generation of slackers whose only activity will be to consume without replenishing or giving anything back that's worth having.

 

This attitude erodes the very fiber of our society and in turn lowers our reputation worldwide, which in turn lowers the self-esteem of our population.

 

Lowering the bar on a regular basis weakens Americans and globally demeans us.

All because one schmuck somewhere down the line decided to be lazy and coined a destructive phrase: "a done thing is better than a perfect thing".

 

It was bad enough for that one person to adopt such an attitude – but for an entire population? It's a death knoll.

 

Now. Having shrieked all that, perhaps we should try a different mantra. How about, "Well begun is half done."?  Or "Put your best foot forward."? There are dozens, if not hundreds of adages that encourage everyone to do their best and tackle the toughest jobs. My personal favorite is a quote by Tom Hanks' character, Jimmy Dugan in "A League of Their Own": "It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great."

 

Take that last sentence into the world with you and pull it out when you're facing a difficult task: "The hard is what makes it great."  

 

[Originally published on Medium in 2020.]