Quality & Compromise
July 4, 2007
We live in a world where mediocrity has become the overall condition of our world. Where “good enough” is too often the highest goal of an increasingly indiscriminate and careless culture who are too willing to accept too little. What happened to Quality? Do any of us today really know what this word means, and its effect on our lives?
We have been brought up in an environment where quality, integrity, competence and other essential values have become concepts as eroded as the great pyramids: they still stand, but have become mere remnants, reminders of a forgotten glory. Quality, the embodiment of an exacting mastery of method and material, is succumbing to the erosion of the attitudes and actions of a vast population who accept “good enough” as the approved and profitable modus operandi. Is this really good enough? The incomprehensible work of “fine art” rendered with an inept hand, the book that goes to print with inexcusable misspellings and grammatical errors. Songs with no recognizable melody or meaning. A performance concocted for mass appeal with little attention to…quality.
The sense of pride and competence one has when one delivers one’s best effort is now too often replaced with the short-term semi-satisfaction of getting the buck the fastest and easiest way. The acceptance of the mediocre work sounds in the mournful bell tolling the tale of a world on its way to a funeral. Its own. That may seem a bit dramatic. And you may not believe it, but how do you feel when you’ve taken the easy way, the less tiresome or difficult solution, when you know in your gut that the harder road was the right road and then deny it? That is the little death and each step down that path leads to the death of each value that has been denied. Too many are now blithely descending this treacherous route with no thought to the standards and principles that are integral and essential to our very nature and existence. Well, what lies at the end of this road? It is not life, I assure you.
Many of us actually do strive to do our best, but in this world where mediocrity reigns, it has become too easy not to and too easily accepted is the unqualified work it; truly good work is often remaining unrecognized, un-rewarded. Thus, compromising one’s efforts and integrity in this undemanding environment too often wins out. Yet quality is recognizable. We continue to be awed by the power and majesty of the works of Michelangelo, the brilliance and subtle blending of rhyme and reason in the written words of Shakespeare, the magic in the emotional impact of the music of our great composers and musicians from past to present. They move and shake us, model and make us, such is the quality of their works, the quality of their un-compromised efforts that result in this power.
We have within each of us an ability to draw upon, even the tiniest kernel is there to be nurtured, inspired, strengthened and given a path to travel upon. We can reach the level of, and even surpass, all the great masters in any field, of any past. If you did not in some way believe this you would never even attempt what you do in your art. We have more physical tools than they ever had, but we have, as a whole, less concern for and understanding of the very things that they applied so rigorously and religiously to achieve their master works. The uncompromising and unfailing pursuit of the quality necessary to create the kind of art that survives the centuries and continues on, pinnacles of what we aspire to.
The passage to that end is not necessarily the easy way, nor the quick way. It takes will and fortitude to be a good artist. If you don’t know your chosen field well, you must find the know-how, or make it. If your school can’t teach you what you need to know, find those mentors and masters who can teach you and convince them they must. If you suspect your ability in spelling or grammar isn’t what it should be, locate those materials or that expert help that will make you the master. If your paintbrush or your instrument isn’t complying with what you have in mind, dig up, study any and every reference that can be found to improve your skills and make the quality of your work the inspiration that others will need to light their way. Go beyond, always reach farther than what others have done before and never, just never compromise on quality!
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Excellent advice, and an acute observation of one of the important aspects of artistry that is often overlooked. Thank you Marcelle.
I just wrote an article (to be published next month) about this subject but applied to customer service (or lack thereof).
The reach for merely “good enough” is astounding - and the avoidance and even ridicule of the extra costs of doing it right are driving those who do “do it right” out of the market.
But “merely adequate” is what people get when they don’t value themselves highly. If you are worth the “merely adequate”, what are you saying about yourself?
I am worth more than that.