Excellence is a Must

​By: Mr. Nathaniel A. Saquiban

Excellence is the general description for outstanding, beyond average, or anything supreme. It is a value that is applicable to character and work output or services. It is expected among public servants and workers in the corporate world. The Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public officials and Employees requires that public officials and employees shall perform and discharge their duties with the highest degree of excellence, professionalism, intelligence and skill. In the same manner, employers of business enterprises expect their personnel to do their best in the performance of their duties in order to generate desirable profit.

Excellence, however, cannot be consistently demonstrated without possessing excellent nature on the inside. Any excellent act or work is the natural outcome of the exceptional character of a person performing such act or work. If a person is internally good, it is expected that he or she will do well outwardly. How then can a person be excellent on the inside? He or she must allow God to work on the inside of him or her because God is the source of all goodness and beauty.

The above proposition is derived from the Scripture itself. In one of the accounts of Jesus Christ, there was a rich young man who ran up, knelt before Him, and asked “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus replied, “Why do you call Me good?  No one is good except God alone.” Thus, God alone is good. But while He alone is good, He also intended to share His good nature to us. That is the reason why He created us according to His image and likeness. Having been created in the image and likeness of God, we, therefore, have the potential to become good and excellent as He is. Every time we fail, we just need to surrender our lives to Him that He will dwell in us and supply us the grace to be excellent.

The need to be excellent nowadays is needless to state and is obvious under present circumstances. It is a must especially in the Philippines because the nation has been ripped-off of its beauty due to lack of excellence. The lack of discipline among us creates widespread and lasting devastation in the country. The poverty that we suffer now and the disservice to the public are simply the results of imperfection and continuing negative practices. We, ourselves, create our own disaster. While we plan well technically and financially to address any form of disaster that may happen, we devoid all these preparations due to poor implementation of established policies and programs. The ill effects of substandard projects alone make the innocent populace vulnerable to risk and hazards.
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Excellent, thus, should not only be a value but a goal to achieve in every field of endeavor. It is a short-term goal that once we have achieved it, we will likely attain and fulfill our long-term goals. It is like dealing first with the root cause of the problem in order to realize a lasting solution. In short, pursuing excellence is pursuing our dreams and visions.