The Hard Is What Makes It Great

It's a great line.

 I got to thinking about it because I was helping out a friend's kid with some homework today. It was math, and like every kid in probably the history of ever, this kid didn't want to do it. (The inevitable heartfelt apologies to my own parents for making them have so much patience with me for the same thing.)

 The thing that got me thinking was what my friend's kid said about the math homework.

"It's hard! Math is hard!"

 Now first of all, I had to keep myself from flinching because of that whole Teen Talk Barbie thing. But it also made me wonder about why that's a thing that happens at all. First I started wondering why math and science are such "hard" subjects. Then I got past that and started to wonder when HARD started meaning BAD.

 I mean, I'm sure it has a lot to do with the way we demonize mistake-making. The harder something is, the more likely someone is to do it "wrong" the first or second or third time around. But I wish it weren't that way. I would like to get back to a place where I could say to myself, "oh, it's hard? Good. You're probably doing it right." I wonder how I can foster that mindset in others, too. The hard can be a badge of honor. The hard is what makes it great.