Be the Best of Whatever You Are

[147 words]

If you can’t be a pine on the top of the hill
Be a scrub in the valley – but be 
The best little scrub by the side of the rill;
Be a bush if you can’t be a tree.
If you can’t be a bush be a bit of the grass,
And some highway some happier make;
If you can’t be a muskie then just be a bass –
But the liveliest bass in the lake! 
We can’t all be captains, we’ve got to be crew,
There’s something for all of us here. 
There’s big work to do and there’s lesser to do,
And the task we must do is near.
If you can’t be a highway then just be a trail,
If you can’t be the sun be a star.
It isn’t by size that you win or you fail –
Be the best of whatever you are!

Douglas Malloch
church of Christ
Scottsboro, AL