"A" Is For Satisfactory

Let’s talk about satisfaction.

Being satisfied is good. (Get your mind out of the gutter, you naughty-pants!) If you’re a Nero Wolfe fan, you know that “satisfactory” is his highest praise.

If you’re not a Nero Wolfe fan, get on Amazon for the Rex Stout books and whatever you use for television for the excellent Tim Hutton TV version. If you’re not a Nero Wolfe fan after that, well, then you probably shouldn’t be reading this blog.

Mr. Wolfe may consider “satisfactory” valuable enough, but thanks to our public school system the rest of us now equate satisfaction with mediocrity.

“Mediocre” is okay, if that’s the best you can hope for. For which you can hope. You know. Sorry, ghost of Mrs. Jorgensen, but AP English was a looong time ago.

Anyhow, mediocrity is rarely satisfying.

Satisfaction is an end in itself. It’s contentment-making. It is a happy, restful thing.

Again with the naughty? Stop that.

Satisfaction is a worthy goal. It goes beyond mere adequacy. We shouldn’t be afraid to use the word, and we shouldn’t feel disrespected when it’s used on us. So often we do, though.

No one hopes to get a C.

Unless you expected a D, in which case see above about reading blogs.

We satisfy curiosity. We satisfy hunger. We satisfy a need. Okay, yeah, all of which can take us back to nasty-ville, but Auntie won’t let it.

In fact, I won’t let it take us anywhere. I’m satisfied that I made my point.