No To Nine Yards

Nope. Not going the Whole Nine Yards. Never have, never will. Why, some ask? If you don't try, you'll never reach your acme, your perfection. My answer is, I have no intention of going that far. In high school I was always on the Honour Roll and proud of it, but my closest friends topped it. They stayed on top and continued on throughout university. I marched down the aisle and got the board's tassel flipped and had a career, but not on to the doctorate.  In fact, one clever friend dedicated her life to Nine Yards. She went on to become a tenured professor and writes books as a global authority in her subject. She never married, travels all over the world making friends in her field and continues in her eighties to publish. She writes to me and tells me modestly about her successes because she knows I am thrilled for her. She has reached her acme, her perfection. But she  lives alone and is now retired and hoping to have time to get her next book ready to publish. Her subject is so narrow that few will partake of all the work she has gone to, and she knows that, but she revels in the fact that she has accomplished. She has gone her Nine Yards. Recently, I met a woman in my Bridge group who plays at least four times a week and strives to learn all there is about the game. She plays seriously and rather expects others to try for the same. She does "instruct" at the table but not entirely offensively. We can certainly learn from others whether we want to go the whole way or not. This Bridge player is going for her Nine Yards in cards. There are many people who do the Nine Yards but I am one of the lazy ones who says no, I don't have that kind of ambition. I love coasting and enjoying the ride. I don't need to be in the driver's seat, nor even the front seat. I am content to smell and pick the roses along the way. This is not saying we shouldn't go for the top, the Whole Nine Yards. If some didn't, we wouldn't be where we are today on this Technological, Scientific, Literary, Artistic and so on,  planet. Man's nature is to achieve and to progress even though at times, it puts lives at risk over stressing our physical limits. Our marvellous brains seek to overcome the risks as well.  So I congratulate all the Nine Yarders but sorry, I want to get back to my book and my games and my lolling around with the plants and to savour the flavours. But to all of those of us who could be called lazy and users, we feel no guilt about enjoying what the achievers have accomplished. Who for, and why, do they do it? Take heart. They do it for us.