Recently, I attempted to help my wife put lights on the Christmas tree. As is usual, my assistance fell far short of perfection. She is the one who knows just how the tree should look, how the lights need to be arrayed as if placed totally at random, when, for me, I know that there are strings of them which look good enough to me if they are just wound “round-and-round” the tree.

I am not a perfectionist when it comes to decorating the Christmas tree, nor, for that matter, am I much of one when it comes to other things.

I am what I would call a “90% guy.” 90% of perfection is close enough for me, on most things. I am more interested in just getting things done. If you can get to 90% on the “perfection” scale, yet get something done–that is usually good enough. A lot of things never get done because people are trying to be 100% perfect.

A good example is in writing these articles. If I were to give them to my wife for editing, they could be perfect, but we would be debating them into next month. She can make them better by insuring, especially, that the commas and grammar are all properly done. However, I am more interested in whether or not they convey the message I am trying to write about. If they do that, then they pass the 90% rule, and so I send them to the newspaper for publication without her intervention.

Again, in terms of writing, I once tried to write for a good friend his memories of what it took to find the site, develop the design and then bring to construction the National World War II Memorial in Washington. He was a perfectionist, and I finally gave up on the project, “Haydn,” I said, “only you can write this history the way that you want it.” Of course, he never did and the story wasn’t published until after his death. I think it would have been better to have gotten it done while he was alive … but his perfectionism prevented it.

I know that I am harping a bit, but I think that too many things get “lost in the shuffle” because people think things need to be perfect before proceeding with them. Society would be better off if we got things done right enough but maybe not to the point of perfection. It is better, especially, when addressing political problems to accept, before we begin, that we will not be able to get 100% of everything our way.

I recall in 1964 and 1965 the big national debate over civil rights legislation. We did get laws passed in the country then outlawing most of what were called “Jim Crow” practices in the south. However, we did not address all civil rights issues in the country…especially that of open, nondiscriminatory housing. Yet, I have always believed that the country was better off by getting passed what was politically possible at that time.

Let’s get down to even more “nitty gritty” yet important things, like public works. We are now engaged in an effort to complete sewers around the west side of the Chautauqua Lake. When that is done, we will have about 90% of the Lake being served with sewers. Someday, I would predict that 100% of the lake will have sewers. But, 90% is still a great achievement.

Rather than being a perfectionist, I would describe myself as a “getting it into the end zone” guy. Keep moving the ball toward the end zone. I have never heard anyone call football a perfect sport. But, the goal in the game is clear…keep moving the ball down the field and take what the defense will give you. You will eventually, hopefully get the ball into the end zone. Not everything will be perfect, but life isn’t perfect. The 90% rule is not a bad rule.

Rolland Kidder is a Stow resident and a former New York state Assemblyman.