I saw a post on facebook wishing the Dad in their family a happy birthday.
It said something to the effect of happy birthday to the BEST dad, husband, son, uncle, friend, brother, cousin, neighbour, one day grandpa … not sure which ones she chose, but there was list of “bests”.
So I’m here to point out that this is weird that we do this in our culture and ask a few questions about it.
Why do we call our people the best? They are not likely to be the best, and why would it matter if they were?
We have never been parents until we were parents, so how can anyone be the best at that?
The last I heard there wasn’t a definition for being a friend or son that would enable someone to be the best.
And same goes for the other roles on our lists.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all about competition and winning when it is set up. But being the best dad or grandpa or friend isn’t supposed to be a competition.
We love to compare ourselves and each other don’t we? It creeps up even in our birthday messages.
Here is what I believe to be true.
We are all doing the best we can, and comparing ourselves, or hoping to be the best compared to others, isn’t even helpful.
Being the best is a personal thing.
Being the best you can be is a worthy goal.
Striving for a personal best today and hoping that tomorrow is better, is even better.
From now on, maybe we can say “Happy birthday to {person}, thanks for doing the best you can all of the time”. Ok that needs some work. Help me out, how can we do better?