Waiting for Perfection

I can't count the number of times I have started to type a blog post and decided not to do so because I couldn't think of just the "perfect" thing to say. What if they don't like it? What if it doesn't sound good? Those are the questions I found myself asking as I hit the backspace button for what seemed like the hundredth time. I learned something: if you always wait for the perfect word or the perfect timing you will miss wonderful opportunities.

What if Thomas Edison had given up because his first attempt to create a light bulb wasn't successful, what if Alexander Bell had been discouraged because it took multiple failures before the telephone actually worked, and what if Einstein had kept his Theory of Relativity to himself because he was afraid that other's would think that the theory was foolish? If those men had waited for perfection to drop down on them one day it is possible that you and I would be living without incandescent light, a telephone, and we would be clueless about the speed of light in a vacuum.

I write things that aren't perfect and I always will because I am human but I cannot let that stand in the way of saying what needs to be said. If I always hit the backspace key or click on the delete button I may find myself erasing an opportunity to say something that I should have shared. I shouldn't live my life waiting for the perfect sentence or the perfect topic to come to mind because when I do that I am essentially living in fear. Do you know what perfectionist fear? We fear failure.

Failure is a seven letter word and the number seven symbolizes perfection. In a sense that is what failure can help me to see-that often we fail before we succeed. I have resolved that the backspace button and I aren't going to be best friends any more and I have decided to stop waiting for perfection because if I sit here waiting for that perfect inspiration to rain upon me the chances of my ever having an impact upon the world doesn't exist.

Take your chances and say what needs to be said and do what needs to be done! Even if you fail ever time but once you will never regret failing if you have once succeeded.

"I would rather fail in a cause that will someday triumph than triumph in a cause that will someday fail."
-Woodrow Wilson

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Attention readers:revision to blogroll

Are you listed on the Footprints in the Sand blogroll? Footprints in the Sand will be under construction for a while so I can do some improvements and one of those improvements will be the process of updating the blogroll. Please check the blogroll to see if your blog is listed. If you're blog is no longer available or has been deleted please and tell me that you need to be removed from the list. To be part of or to continue to be a part of the blogroll please add your blog name/address to the linky below. Please note the following:

1. I reserve the right to deny any additions to my blogroll
2. The blogroll that I will create may not be copied to your blog unless under express permission from me.
3. By adding your blog to the Footprints in the Sand blogroll you are consenting to the release of your blog address and your blog name.

http://footprintsinthesand365.blogspot.com/search/label/blogroll

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My thoughts on the influence of news media

I wrote the following essay over a year ago and submitted it for an essay contest and although it didn't win I thought you might like to read it and give me some feedback about it. Please do not quote and part of the essay unless you ask for permission to quote it-thanks! I would love to hear your thoughts about how you think current news media influences our outlook on our nation.

The Coin and Perspective
By Elizabeth A. J____

Have you ever noticed that each coin has two unique sides, each with a separate image engraved upon them? Each side poses a different image yet the two sides are formed together to make up one solitary coin. In our society today, there is a seemingly endless expanse of information. It catches our eye as we walk past a newspaper stand, flip through radio stations, or scan across the television; news is there for us to know about. However, not all news is the same; we often mentally compile it into two categories, good news, and bad news. With two sides to every story and two basic types of news being reported, we could liken news to that of a coin. Both happy and sad news influence our perspective in different ways and affects the way we see America and our fellow citizens.

When I find a news channel and listen as a news anchor reports about a good deed which someone cared enough to do, I listen. Whether it is a firefighter rescuing a child from a burning building, a stranger returning a cherished item to someone they did not know, or an individual’s volunteering to help out the needy; acts of kindness are something worth hearing about. Upon my hearing of such, it is like a fresh spring rain, which comes and renews a perspective of hope and faith in the goodness of those who call America their country. It doesn’t matter whether or not the news person deems the good thing they’re reporting to be of any great matter, it still reminds me that there are people today who will continue to hold true to the generosity that America once held dear. Alexis de Tocqueville once stated “America is great because she is good” and I am grateful when the media will take a moment to show that some of this greatness still perseveres.

On the other hand, there is news coverage to which I do not particular relish listening. Political corruption, robberies, and heart-breaking tragedies are topics that seem to be central focus of current news media, but perhaps that isn’t entirely bad. Although I might not desire to know of such happenings, I would live a blind life if I did not hear about them. However, as this is not the case, I have the ability to see the bad situations in this world. While it is often quite easy for me to become pessimistic in my thoughts when news people talk for hours about the latest tragedy, I find that I might be positively impacted as well. When I can see beyond all the trouble and difficulty in America, I can see that she is full of people who need the redemption and love of Jesus Christ and I think that is the most important perspective that bad news could convey to me.


Having looked at both sides of the news “coin”, I can say that the media influences my perspective of America. While both the side of good news and the side of bad news affect me in contrasting ways, they both assist me in better understanding and appreciating the nation in which I am privileged to live.

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Dealing with it

I know, I know...maybe you're starting to feel depressed because of my recent post about overcoming, difficulties, and trails but indulge me once more. To connect with other people on a heart-to-heart level you have to write about what is touching you and that's what I've tried to do although I am not sure that I always succeed. Right now there are many things in my life that are things I don't want to think about but I have too.

I have to deal with it.

With failure.

With questions.

With loss.

And the feeling that so many things are slipping through my fingers.

I have begun reading an autobiography of Winston Churchill, a man who never backed down. I couldn't tell you why I began reading about Mr. Churchill but I am thinking that it had something to do with what God thought I should read. I had just finished putting my violin in my case after a violin lesson in which I basically failed at everything when I read a quote of Mr. Churchill's-one of Britain's greatest champions.

"Never give in, never give in, never; never; never; never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense."
-Winston Churchill

I had to face it all again and I had to deal with it-it is failure. Failure can be small or large and can harm us or make us better but we must never give into it. Never back down. Never lose faith. Never give in.

...In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
Romans 8:37

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