18 January 2010

My First and Only "B"

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I put off taking "Molecular Genetics" in graduate school until what I thought was my last semester in hopes that someone else would teach it. In the end, I ended up with a teacher I would rather not have had who ended up giving me the only "B" I ever scored in school. When I asked him why JR received an "A" and I a "B" for comparable work, he replied that it was because he expected more from me than from JR. This kind of double standard has always bothered me.

It extends into every facet of existence. Most people hold dulpicitous rules for everyone in their lives. They expect you to forgive them but they do not reciprocate, expect you to trust them but don't reciprocate, expect charity from you but do not return it. When you don't live up to expectations, they either use it as an excuse for their own weaknesses or criticize you for it. It's a no-win scenario with these kinds of people.

People worry that I hold them to my standard. Since I have lived it all of my life, I know how taxing it can be. I know enough about human nature to know that unless other people choose it, they cannot possibly do what I do. However, if you tell me your standard, if you promise that you will do something, I will hold you to your word.

Some of those who have scapegoated me on this topic claim I do not see the good in things. A friend of mine told me the other day that I have the ability to see the good of which people are capable and expect them to live up to it. I know you can be much better than you are, but my rubric for myself is valid for me because I chose it. Share your rubric for yourself with me, and I will hold you to it, but I ask no man to follow me. There are better examples.

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