The Importance of Humility in My Quest to Change The Good Enough Standard in My Family

You must be the change you wish to see in the world.—Mahatma Gandhi

The change I want to see in the world is the riddance of the “good enough” standard that grasps the society we live in. I grew up in a split household. One household had my caring mother, the other, my very stern father. I grew up with the ultimate goal of satisfying my father and showing that I was good enough. I have been told everything I do is never good enough. No matter what I do, to whatever caliber I do it, it would never impress my father. I lived in the shadows of my four older siblings, each of them specializing in their own field. I wanted to emerge from those shadows and impress my father in each of my sibling’s fields, but especially in my father’s field, engineering. I was not going to allow myself to be a disappointment in his eyes any longer.

Each sibling of mine had graduated from college and had pursued their careers. My oldest brother is an engineer like my father and has made him very proud. My second to oldest brother is a very successful bodybuilder and salesman. My sister is the academic one of the family. My youngest brother is ten years older than I and he was successful in high school athletics and now has an impeccable work ethic. I strived to be as good as he was ever since I could walk, until I discovered my talents in music outweighed my talents in sports. I have always picked apart the best attributes of my siblings and make them mine, but that was not me. I continued playing marimba and practiced countless hours to be good, to be at the point that would impress my dad. All I wanted to do while growing up was to make my father proud of me.

I have spent my whole life trying to be “good enough” for my father. I have overcome every obstacle he has thrown my way. Only recently have I discovered I will never be good enough for my father, because good enough does not exist. After several years of frustration, I came to the realization that my father was teaching me humility. He was teaching me how to keep my pride at bay. Humility has taught me about silent victories, victories that do not boost my ego. Victories knowing that I did not fail, instead I had a new goal to strive for. I want to use this new found attribute to excel in my field of computer engineering by breaking barriers and continuing to move forward without looking back for a reward or extravagant recognition. The only reason to look back is to make sure I did what I did is beyond what was expected, beyond what is “good enough.” That is the change I want to see in the world.