The importance of the little things

Europe is obviously a very technologically advanced part of the world, in general. But there are some aspects of the modern, high-tech world that have proven difficult for Europeans to master. I speak, of course, of indoor plumbing. Even in the fancy hotels I stayed in in the South of France, the bathrooms tended to be comically small and extremely impractical. "Hey! We can save even more space by putting the toilet in the shower! Genius!" I looked forward to getting back to American bathrooms.

So I land in the States, get my bags, hop in my car and start driving home. I stop at a gas station in rural North Carolina, and I go to use the restroom. It was large and spacious, and well laid out. But it reeked of stale urine, my feet stuck to the floor, and the hand dryer was so remarkable that I simply had to take a picture of it - see below.

The French bathrooms were cramped and inefficient, but they were clean. This gas station was spacious and efficient but was being maintained by someone who clearly took no pride in their work and had no self-respect. Now, I know there is a significant difference between the proprietor of a luxury hotel in wine country and the proprietor of a cheap gas station in a poverty-stricken area. But my goodness. Is it really that hard to mop a floor and replace a broken hand dryer?

No. Those are basic skills.

Sometimes poor people are poor because something outside their control went wrong.

Other times people are poor because of the way they do things.

My father was an exceptional hog farmer. But even he could not fight the tide of farm crashes in the 70s and 80s. We ended up losing everything.

But we continued to work hard, just at other things. And we didn't stay poor for long. Now my Dad lives on a sailboat in the summers, and in Hilton Head in the winters. His kids have both done very well. So the loss of our farm was a temporary setback, but we worked through it ok.

Whoever is in charge of that gas station is never going to excel. At anything. And that will be his (or her) fault.

Teach your children to excel. At whatever it is they're doing. It doesn't matter what they're working on at the time. Work hard at it, and keep at it until it is outstanding. Pretty good is never good enough. Simple.

Sometimes my kids would wonder why I pushed them so hard on stupid school projects that don't matter. It's true, of course - they don't matter. But developing an intolerance for mediocrity - it's surprising how much that matters. For the kid, and society at large.

Because it's not that hard to mop a floor and to do it well. Even if it seems like it doesn't matter.

But it matters. For the gas station proprietor, and society at large.

The little things are important. Even more important than the big things, sometimes...