The best is the enemy of the good

When we go out Broombusting, a lot of people tend to have suggestions like, "You should make a neater pile!"  Or, "The pile should be further from the road!"  When people know that I do speed watch with Community Policing, they tend to suggest where we *should* be speedwatching, rather than where we are.  Talking about the trail maintenance crew, I get a lot of people saying that we should be doing major earth-moving projects, rather than just killing sword fern.

To which my response tends to be, "Good idea!  Why don't you get in here and show us how it's done?"

I have always felt that Chesterton's famous quote about if a job is worth doing, it is worth doing badly, had a lot of value in it.  (Although I *do* tend to think that the Christian church has taken it *entirely* too much to heart, and is possibly even using it as an instruction.)

However, in my old age I am gaining an entirely new appreciation for the concept.  In Voltaire's Dictionnaire Philosophique, he wrote, "Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien."  The best is the enemy of the good, or, less literally, the perfect is the enemy of the good.

Or, in slightly different wording, never let what you *can't* do prevent you from doing what you *can* do.

(I had thought that I would have posted, someplace, a thought that I have had about volunteering, but I can't seem to find it.  When I am in such grief, depression, loneliness, and pain, it seems weird that I spend [waste?] my time helping others.  But it relates to this idea of never let what you *can't* do prevent you from doing what you *can* do.  I can't do anything about the fact that none of the churches of Port Alberni seem to have any concept of pastoral care.  I can't do anything about the fact that nobody in Port Alberni cares whether I live or die.  But I *can* reduce the sum total suffering on earth by keeping people from killing each other [Community Policing], getting people what they need in a disaster [ESS], comforting the bereaved [hospice society], having trails to walk on [trail maintenance], avoid the consequences of invasive species [Broombusters], provide programs for the churches [JFF], provide outreach opportunities for the churches [security seminars and public arts walks], keep the old folks off the streets [Sunshine Club], and build the future leaders of my [ex?] profession [CISSP socmed seminar].)