You think you’re good? Well, you’re not!

While in the Cook Islands in 2007, we attended, as spectators, dance rehearsals for the festival taking place that summer.  For three of the evenings that we were at the island of Rarotonga, we walked to the Cultural Centre and got a huge taste of Cook Island culture.  The theme of that year’s festival was the arrival of Christianity, and the dancing incorporated moves that mimicked digging, hammering, and other church-building activities, and chasing off wives number 2, 3 and 4.  The dancing was amazing.  August evenings in Rarotonga are cool, but at the end of the rehearsals, the dancers were dripping in sweat.

After one particularly impressive rehearsal, we applauded loudly. The dancers grinned broadly. The dance coach scowled. He yelled at the troupe, “You think you’re good? Well, you’re not!” He then went on to point out all their flaws and goad them to perfection.

So if one of us is feeling particularly smug after finding the perfect shell, catching a large Wahoo, polishing out a stubborn rust stain, restarting a seized engine, photographing a beautiful sunset, or finding the best beach restaurant, and we’re thinking, “Boy, I’m good”, we know what the likely rejoinder will be.