The Best

What is the best movie ever? Who was the best Prime Minister of Canada? What is the best-tasting berry? What is the best number of children to have? What is the best religion?

Of course there are objective bests. There are best sellers, best time records, etc. So many of these, however, are better described with “most”, “fastest”, “highest”, “lowest”, or another adjective.

We often try to label our favourite things as the best of their category but, in so many categories, the problem with trying to define the best is that there’s so much subjectivity. For example, easily the best moment of The Lion King movie was Mufasa’s laugh while he and Simba have a moment after Mufasa saved the cubs from the hyenas in the Elephant Graveyard. When I posited this to my brother twenty years ago, he countered that I was crazy and that it was definitely Scar’s Be Prepared song. More recently, two friends were talking about the best way to listen to music while exercising without having to carry a phone. For one, it was an iPod nano in a watch strap with wired earbuds. For the other, it was a smartwatch with Bluetooth headphones. There is no objective best, but whatever works best for each individual in his/her own situation.

We sometimes wonder why others don’t adopt our best practices for so many things across the spectrum: religion, marriage, children, jobs, hygiene, etiquette, diet, finance - the list goes on. What works for someone may not work for another, or may work slightly better with modification. For me to say that someone else’s approach or outlook is completely incorrect would be silly. It’s great to share our knowledge: we’ve evolved as much as we have because we built knowledge on top of what others shared with us. If someone else doesn’t adopt our ideals, opinions or interests, there’s no reason look down on them. Find out what works for them and you may learn something new.