Excellence, even when no one is watching...
The statues carved for the pediment on the acropolis in Athens in honor of the goddess Athena, were placed at least 80 feet above the viewer. Now they can be seen in the British Museum. Are they roughly hewn? Or perhaps not fully carved in the back? No. Every statue carved for the pediment is perfectly finished from every angle. Why? After all, who could see them? 20/20 vision would not detect slight fudges of Poseidon's hair - and nobody at all could see his back. The answer: because the gods knew if the carver did his best or not.
And so it is with our Lord. 'Who is everywhere present and fillest all things': so Orthodox Christians praise the Lord in morning prayer.
My daughter's teacher is not aware of the importance of excellence even when only the Lord is watching. I have been wrangling with Mrs. L. about her teaching philosophy. The children in the class all have disabilities and are not speaking, but she insists that they learn from each other - while the teacher and three aides sit on their...chairs... and chat to each other. Basically the teacher is lazy. And the high school aide who is 'shadowing' the teacher is being formed in those teaching 'methods'. The children are being prepared so that they will transition in to a kindergarten in two years. However, they will be at the bottom of the class (but that, at least meets their goals) in one of the worst school districts in the state. Mediocrity is the goal. And I can do nothing about it in this case. (Letters and meetings with the principal and teacher have not had the desired effect.)
But I can try to train my children to do their best - even when nobody may ever know the difference, to dust, clean their rooms, put away their clothes and write thank you notes with excellence.
Bon courage! Let us do everything as well as possible. Brook no mediocrity. We must be leaven.
As ever, intensely yours,
Beth
Beth,
Thanks for the post. Great point.
Until we do away with teacher tenure and add school choice for parents public education will remain...premeditated-mediocrity.
Didymus
Posted by: Didymus | March 12, 2007 at 07:39 AM