This morning on OPB, there was an interesting discussion, which you can read about here. This was the crux of it:
Portland (debatably) needs to meet some federal requirements for water quality. To do this, rates will increase 80% over the next 10 years. But this means some Portlanders who are already struggling financially will fall further behind. How will Portland handle this?
A fair question, with a disappointing answer. Here is the jist of that:
Portland already has one of the best systems in the nation for financial utility assistance. Water is the most important thing to human life, and many people pay much more for natural gas, cable, cell phones, etc.
But I'd disagree with this as any sort of reasonable defense to the question that was asked.
Better (or best) isn’t the goal 1
Hopefully, you’re doing whatever you’re doing because you think it will solve problems, meet goals, and ultimately, make the world a better place to live in.
In the case of the Portland Water Bureau, I’d expect their goal to be something like this: We believe that judicious usage of water is essential to maintaining a quality of life that we support, and for people who can’t afford it, we want to help.
But whatever your dream is (even if it’s just to get filthy rich), beating your competition isn’t enough. Being the city where those in financial turmoil can best afford water isn’t enough. Being the search engine that delivers the best results isn’t enough.
Your goal is your goal
“Better than the rest” is an easy metric, and it’s something to feel good about. But if you’re better than everyone else, that doesn’t necessary mean that you’re meeting your goals yet. And I’d argue that greatness lies somewhere between being better than everyone else and achieving the dream you set out to accomplish.
