It’s OK to be Average!

I’m reblogging a post that really hit me today. Fritzie says in one of the comments that she wrote it while reflecting on her 40+ years so far. Well, I’ve been reflecting on my 60+ years and am still struggling with the truism that it’s OK to be average. Like Fritzie, my parents and teachers all called me “underachiever” and encouraged/pushed me to do/be better. I don’t know about Fritzie, but my parents didn’t hesitate to let me know how disappointed they were when I didn’t pull myself out of the ranks of underachievers. When I graduated from college exactly 20 years after high school and then from law school, my parents finally told me they were proud of me. By then I was 40, and I just didn’t believe them. After 40 years of letting them down, how was it possible they were suddenly proud of me? I’ve spent a lifetime trying to prove to them and to myself that I’m not an “underachiever”, that I’m not a failure, trying to somehow earn their posthumous approval. Impossible and irrational, I know. The result has been a lifetime of self-criticism, disappointment, even depression that I was still one of the “underachieving” masses. Four years of retirement and reflection have helped me to realize that the underachiever label isn’t a death sentence. That it’s merely a recognition that no one can be the best in everything. I admit I still have some way to go toward accepting that being average is OK. Reading and re-reading Fritzie’s blog will help me to do that.

Bliss

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Basket-hanging tourist found blissful tropical death.

written in response to J.I. Rogers’ Six-Word Story Challenge prompt tourist; and to The Haunted Wordsmith’s Worth a Thousand Words picture challenge. Photo credit to pasja1000 @ pixabay.com

Interloper

Ticket-holder dawdling. He cut in line.

written in response to J.I. Rogers’ Six-Word Story Challenge prompt “interloper.”

You Can Vote: Who Should Win An International Literary Prize in 2018?

TIL: The Nobel literature prize will not be awarded this year because of a sex–abuse corruption scandal. But never fear! Swedish journalist Alexandra Pascalidou has organized a one-off New Academy Prize in Literature to be awarded October 14. According to The New Academy website, the non-profit organization was formed not only to ensure that an international literary prize would be awarded in 2018 “but also as a reminder that literature should be associated with democracy, openness, empathy and respect.” The award will be presented at a banquet on December 10, 2018, and The New Academy will self-destruct (“dissolve” in legal parlance) the following day, December 11, 2018.

Unlike the Nobel, this will not be an elitist prize. The general public can vote on the 46 nominees vying for inclusion in the final judging. Cast your vote on The New Academy website here. Voting closes August 14. Let your literary voices be heard!

Benjamin Orr’s Voice

One of the vexing things about prompts is that I’ll often be prompted to respond outside the “rules” of the challenge. This is one of them. The Haunted Wordsmith posted this lovely picture prompt for her Worth a Thousand Words daily challenge.

She also posts a daily “Three Things Challenge.” Today’s prompts are discovery, lace, and basketball. In my mind, the two challenges combined and resulted in a video response. Once I associate a prompt with a song, any chance for following the challenge rules goes out the window.

With that disclaimer, here is “Skyline” written by Benjamin Orr and Diane Grey Page and released on Benjamin Orr’s 1986 debut solo album, The Lace.