Being 'Good Enough'

Hello again!

So today I'm talking about a phrase we're all familiar with - being "good enough".

Taken in a more general way, you could look at it within society. However, we all live in very different societies so how can we define who is "good enough"? I'll take the society that I live in to expand.

I guess being "good enough" in my society would be conforming to all of said society's expectations; e.g. go to university, get a good job, get married, have children, obey the law - basically be a good citizen. But not everybody conforms to these expectations, for example people on benefits, those who choose not to go to university and instead do an apprenticeship or something else or those who disobey the law. But why should that mean they aren't good enough? Why should people conform to society's expectations? Expectations which are, quite frankly, expanding into more unrealistic and demanding values. There's a mantra-like quote I've seen recently posted on various social networking sites:

And honestly, I think its absolutely true of the majority of people in society. But why should that mean that they're "good enough" and those that don't follow this aren't??

Looking at this more specifically, many of my lectures in Journalism recently have been repeating the need for extensive work experience in journalism; and I absolutely agree that it is necessary and vital to have if one wants a job/career in journalism, which is an extremely competitive and difficult area of work. What I don't agree with though, is at the end of a presentation given by a guest speaker, he said "You have to be good enough to get a job in journalism". This really annoyed me.

Why?

There are so many people out there who feel they simply aren't good enough when most likely they are! I myself often go through periods where I feel like I'm failing at everything and feel that I'll never be good enough to be a radio journalist/presenter. And therefore, to hear the term "You HAVE to be GOOD ENOUGH" is the most discouraging, terrifying statement I've ever heard in my life.

So, in conclusion, I feel we should, as an entire society - every society in fact - should stop throwing around the term "good enough". While it may encourage some people, I feel that its main effect is one of discouragemen. So many people struggle to get employment and when they don't get work they become disheartened and don't feel "good enough" and get told they need to be "better" or have "better qualities/skills" to get a job. Wars have started before because groups of people believe they're "better" than others; but what gives them the right to decide their group of people are "good enough" to live but another group aren't? So basically, stop saying "good enough" and stop judging people by that term!

Rant over.

Thanks :)