03/15/12 - Not Perfect but BETTER

I am not a perfect person.

Being George Washington has been a great experience so far in order to bring out some of the things that I do really well and also some of my failings.  Failings like trying to promise something that I was unable to do (ie. writing in this journal on a daily basis).  I made a commitment to myself and to you that I would be writing every day and keeping up with the project on a daily basis, and I have not done that.

It's not that I don't think about it on a daily basis and am still trying to live by the monthly teachings of the Being George Washington project, because I am.  Nobody said this was going to be easy, but I must say that I am disappointed that I haven't been able to follow through the way I would have wanted to.

With Diligence, I did a pretty good job the first month, but still fell short with my journal and my writing.  It's hard to say that I succeeded when the entire points was to start something and finish it.  I guess I could say that I actively think about Being George Washington on a daily basis, so in that regard I have made a great deal of progress from the time before I started.  Even through my failings, I know that I still want to be more like George Washington, so I guess that is a big step in the right direction.

Faith, was difficult and probably where I started to get off track.  I have never been a church goer and haven't gone to church on a regular basis since I went to Sunday School when I was in Kindergarten.  Even then, we didn't go to the church services and I was only dropped off for the after service classes.  I still remember those classes though and am now very grateful that I had that much in my life at the time.  I believe that at that young age at gave me my moral center and foundation for the rest of my life.  Since that time however, church has not been a part of my life and I pretty much stopped going all together after an atrocious Easter service where the pastor started preaching predestination.  In the service he said that everything was already predestined by God and used an example that if it was Gods will that a person get an A on a test in school then it didn't matter if the person studied or not, that person would get an A.  The only reason I didn't stand up and walk out was out of respect for my family I was sitting with.

On that note, I DO have a lot of faith.  I believe in God, follow the 10 Commandments and "The Golden Rule" and believe that faith and religion are KEY to having a moral and just society.  A few weeks ago I even went to a memorial service for a good friend of mine at an LDS Church.  I have to say that it was one of the most moving and fulfilling services that I have ever been to.

Virtue is something that I have not actually started yet, but I believe that I follow it very well and I always have.  As I said before.  I always follow the "Golden Rule" and think that it is a good way to express the ideals of being virtuous.  I haven't written out my chart yet, but I am content in knowing that I generally behave in a very virtuous way and have a virtuous lifestyle.

So Being George Washington . . . is hard work.  It almost makes me wish for a simpler time without as many distractions in life to get in the way.  Life doesn't work that way though.  Life IS more complicated today but it just means that we have to WORK HARDER to BE BETTER.

I am not a perfect person.  I have had personal success and failure during this Being George Washington project so far.  One thing I will say is that I know that I am a BETTER person for being on this journey.  So, thank you Glenn and thank you George Washington for being my examples to become better.