Be the Best of Whatever You Are

I am reading a book by Martin Luther King Jr., called Strength to Love. I came across a passage that spoke to my wandering soul and I wanted to relate it for you almost in its entirety. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, and that it fills your thoughts for a few minutes. [Note that he wrote this in 1959 and exclusive reference to “men” merely reflects society at the time.]

"We are challenged on every hand to work untiringly to achieve excellence in our life work. Not all men are called to specialized or professional jobs; even few rise to the heights of genius in the arts and science; many are called to be labourers in factories, fields, and streets. But no work is insignificant. All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence...This is what Douglas Mallock meant when he wrote:

If you can’t be a pine on the top of the hill
Be a scrub in the valley – but be
The best little scrub by the side of the rill,
Be a bush, if you can’t be a tree.

If you can’t be a highway, just be a trail
If you can’t be the sun, be a star;
It isn’t by size, that you win or fail –
Be the best of whatever you are.

Set yourself earnestly to discover what you are made to do, and then give yourself passionately to the doing of it."

I know some people who give themselves passionately to life. I know many others who are so stressed out that they give so little. I strive to be one of the former. And the best of whatever I am.

Martin Luther King Jr.’s passage reminds me of one of my favourite sayings “Reach for the Moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the Stars.”

If you don’t reach the moon, may you land softly on the star that shines for your life. All the best.