A Deceptively Simple Question

Last Updated on June 13, 2017

A friend of mine gave me a survey to fill out the other day, and there was one question in particular that seemed very simple until I actually attempted to answer it.

Then I just sat there, staring at it. Along with that intimidating white space between it and the next question.

It asked me to list the three accomplishments of which you are the most proud thus far.

See? A simple enough little query for anyone to answer.

Admittedly, I was trying to over-analyze the thing. My friend is a Christian coaching specialist, and he’s going for a new certification, so he’s using a portion of fellowship time that we already spend together regularly towards that new certificate.

So I was looking at the question not only from the standpoint of personal accomplishments, but also from the Christian perspective of “the big picture.”

Suddenly, things I might have listed otherwise no longer seemed all that important. Certainly not accomplishments worthy of any tremendous amount of pride.

Professionally, I’ve won a few small awards. Nothing major. No Emmy. But a few minor notables on the bottom of the resumé.

Once, a promo I had edited was just quirky enough to be included in a presentation of 100 promos from around the country played to an audience of TV marketing specialists at a national promotion conference.

It wasn’t a bad little spot, and, most importantly, the crowd laughed just at the right moment, so the big gag worked. It’s always a nice feeling for a producer to be able to hear a nice reaction from the crowd, especially if it’s the reaction he was actually hoping for when he edited the spot to begin with.

So outside of any religious context, I likely would have included that.

Another station I worked for temporarily put me in charge of its website, to help get it off the ground and in full-fledged competition with the other station websites in town.&nbsp  Ours, at the time, was a distant third in terms of daily page views, despite the fact that our on-air offerings were consistently top-ranked.&nbsp  On the same day that additional responsibility began, a major breaking news story unfolded and I was able to get information online and constantly updated over the next few days.&nbsp  In no time, our website spiked because of that coverage and, while I was responsible for supervising it, it stayed at the top.&nbsp  It even won an Associated Press award for the best website in the state.

I’d have definitely included that.

But now there was this religious context in which the question felt as if it were framed.&nbsp  And suddenly, a :30 promo getting play in front of a room full of my peers and a website I was asked to improve jumping to #1 and receiving an award suddenly didn’t seem like that much of an accomplishment.

I’m sure God is proud of that kind of accomplishment just as a parent is proud of a child bringing home a book report with a giant A at the top of the page.

But in a “grand scheme of things” way, what difference do any of these actually make?&nbsp  How many people today even vaguely recall that silly promo they saw 13 years ago?&nbsp  And which users of that website are willing to pretend to like the media long enough to complement the site rather than issuing a complaint when they can’t immediately find what they want at the top of the homepage without their having to perform a search?

In both cases, probably no one.

So how much pride is it reasonable to place on such an accomplishment?

And, more importantly, if I try to pretend to look at it from the significance of being a Christian who hopes to somehow make a difference, why would I mark this kind of accomplishment at all?

I’m still trying to come up with something.&nbsp  I’m glad he asked me, even if I now really, really hate the question.