A Question

Consider these two stories:

There once was a tortoise and a hare. The tortoise challenged the hare to a race. The hare, arrogant, fell asleep along the route. Through the diligence it displayed, the tortoise won the race.

The second story:

There once was a tortoise and a hare. The tortoise challenged the hare to a race. The hare, arrogant, fell asleep along the route. Later, he woke up and finished in second place, which is still pretty dang good.

Now, here's the question: Is it worth the extra effort to be that perfect?

Now, I, by no means, usually strive for perfection. I find the idea of valedictorianism annoying and counterproductive, and usually find myself detesting that group as a whole. I find myself much more attracted to the 3.5-3.9 range. But that is another post for another time.

The perfectionism I speak of is of a different sort. The understanding of a concept to the very best of your ability. The willingness to seek out complete knowledge, to actively chase it. It's something I used to do quite a bit, when I was a wee second grader. I wanted to learn, I was eager for understanding.

Then homework was introduced. The problem here is not that the homework wasn't too difficult, but the opposite. There was no challenge. I still got perfect grades in school. It took a long, hard three years of pain to realize that I was sliding into a much larger workload than that sixth grade had put on my shoulders.

I do homework now. I attempt to do well in classes, to hold a good GPA, and learn the material. In doing so, I am faced with my greatest boon and curse: the spongy way I learn. I can easily soak in most of what I hear, but I usually over-judge how much I can retain. I still do fine, fine enough where I don't have to read the textbooks at all, but I could be better. I have come to realize that although my "good" is already hanging around the upper quarter of the bell curve, I could be very near the tip.

The question now is: should I go for great, or settle for good?

My answer: I don't know.

Peace out, readers.