Only the Mediocre Are Always at Their Best

You gotta f*ck up now and then, at least as often as you shine.  As music has dynamics, as rivers have floods and dry beds, as strippers go up and down the pole, so we all must go to-and-fro on the pendulum of life.  Only a dull boy is always at top dead center.  He has no genius, no break-out moments.  His best days are outliers.

I am taking inventory of the past week.  Here’s a fuck up.  I ordered a digital oscilloscope for the radar lab, but forgot to order the probes.  What a spaetzle-head!  I did order the scope, but that was just expected.  Top dead center.  Did I have a genius moment?  Alas, no.  Let’s just say I’m saving that for next week.

My post title is borrowed from Al Franken as his Stuart Smalley character on Saturday Night Live.  Franken is now a U.S. Senator from the Great State of Minnesota and seems to at his mediocre best in his new role.  That seems to be our natural state.  It keeps us out of trouble, does it not?

Still, if there is any life in us, we inevitably have our moments.  I’d like to see the look on my face when I look up and find I’m within inches of rear-ending the car in front of me.  I do see the look on your face when you glance up at your rear view mirror and see me within inches of rear-ending you.  Which is to say, perspective plays a role in the fuck-up-to-genius spectrum.  Perhaps that little fright will teach you not to suddenly slam on your brakes for no reason.  Genius!

I have had moments of sheer brilliance.  Such as stocking the coffee cups in the cabinet right above the coffee maker.  Real brains in action there.  Or when I stashed a spare pair of sun glasses in my glove compartment just in case I forgot my regular pair at home.  Your admiration is a given.

Pause now to consider your most recent flash of genius.  Your most recent screw-up.  Do you only see that mediocre sandwich in between?

Here's a call to action.  I say, go forth and swing freely on the pendulum of life.  Risk the f*ck ups and welcome those genius moments.  Don’t always be your middling “best.”