Be The Best Of Whatever You Are

                                                                                                            By Douglas Malloch (1877 - 1938)

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 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 you 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.

What the poet wants to tell us?

In this poem, Douglas Malloch motivates us not to be ashamed of our job status. Because not everyone is the same or has the same talent and capability to perform the same job. But everyone has got a different life situation, opportunity, and talents. Not everyone goes on the same path as others. So, we all end up having a different job.

Thus with the use of suitable figures of speech, he compares different jobs and the persons who can perform their job. Or by chance, you have landed on a specific job; you have to be the best in it. The success or failure is not by the size of your personality or the job you have but by the way you perform it. If you are the best in your job, you will definitely be recognized and appreciated. So, the job description does not matter as every job is important and necessary to run the machinery of the world. But it is highly significant to your satisfaction and success that you do it with vigor and with a full heart. Thus, you will be the best of whatever you are.