I will not be mediocre!

" The things that mean a lot"
Oil & Pastel - A Odendaal

 “We must overcome the notion that we must be regular...it robs you of the chance

to be extraordinary and leads you to the mediocre.”

All around us things are happening everyday. World-changing, life changing. People's lives are at stake, your future, countries' destinies. What do you do? Nothing. People are yearning for your point of view, what do you say? 

No comment...

Too often we settle too quickly. We accept bad service or food in a restaurant, because we don't want to cause a scene. We accept empty shelves, rotten food in our grocery shops, and a violent lifestyle, because it is Africa. We accept exuberant property prices, even though we just come through a recession. We accept our pastor's need to build a monument for his ego, because he "will probably do good" with it. The list goes on...

Before we continue, let us take a look at the definition of the word MEDIOCRE: of moderate or low value and ability. Being of no special quality, average, common, undistinguished, unexceptional, unremarkable.

Does this describe you? 

Is that how you want to be remembered?

You have to make cognitive decisions everyday to be mediocre, or not. It doesn't just happen, you are responsible for it. What choices are you making? Mediocre people just please others, they don't have their own goals. They complete a tasks just average, they complain all the time about the unfair hand of cards they were dealt and never have comments or opinions.

We are so scared to give our opinions, scared to offend, or heaven forbid, be targeted by people who think different from you. "No opinion" isn't your way of being considerate, it is the easy way out. This allows you to never have to think about anything you do, never to take responsibility, not to challenge your views, situation or future and consequently allows you to never grow as a person. With all the freedom and free flow of information, we have become so narrow minded and scared, the we actually have no freedom at all! 

Have you lost your voice?

You owe it to everyone to let them know what you think. "All that is necessary for of evil to triumph, is for good people to do nothing". You may not have an opinion about every issue, but everyone has an opinion about something. How else can you form your character, or let people know you and understand you? If you don't stand for something, you will fall for everything. Think about it.

Even God doesn't like mediocrity! Revelations 3:15-16: I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

Why are we not allowed to have a point of view, or be passionate about our believes and preferences.  In our society we learn to not talk about things, to not have an opinion, we are trained to fit in. Like they are trying to make robots of us.  From the day we go to school, we are being forced fit into the norm the society want us to be. Fitting in and being average provides social protection. The generic word (or excuse) they gave it is "politically correct". Everybody deserves a place under the sun. That doesn't mean that your opinion is the only valid one and you don't need to respect other people's point of views. The secret is to have a balance. At least I have a voice. 

Being remarkable is when you are willing to take risks to take stand out and become indispensable. Every time you accept mediocre service, products or lifestyle and don't give your opinion, you are effectively saying: I accept it and I would like to to lower my standards to your level. I will NOT become mediocre. I will NOT lower my standards. I will fight for my right to have an opinion. So if I make a scene sometimes, or an enemy or two, it is for self preservation. I will not fade away! I will make a change in my life for the better.

History has not been formed by mediocre men & woman, but people with a passion and an opinion. Not by big armies, but by exceptional individuals. We should all have something to believe in and fight for.