Mediocre Stars

For years, people have been complaining that there is too much unwarranted positive affirmation in our society: kids getting trophies just for playing, etc. Of course, this all started with the idea that it is good to give little kids a self-esteem boost...like, the kite can't take flight unless we run with it a little, but then it takes off on its own into the sky. That kind of thing.

If it all works properly, everyone is a "star" for a little and the talented ones sort themselves out from the others as time goes on. I thought it was great that my kids, playing T-ball baseball got little participation trophies. They, like all of the kids, spent the season picking their noses and sitting down in the grass in the middle of an inning and when they were active, they ran from home to third or converged on ground balls in bunches of nine or ten, collided and fell, belly laughing to the ground. The trophies were to say: "See!? You participated and you got something good. Trying gets a reward..." A good thing, I think...as long as it doesn't go on too long.

If it goes on too long (and it does), mediocre people feel entitled to things just because they worked hard. Here, the theories break down. We all know hard work, in and of itself, despite the tears of American Idol audition rejects,  is not rewarded in the real world; results are.

Maybe this is all fun to rant about in terms of principles and in terms of how things used to be "in the old days," but, there is a real danger in all of it, too. It's bad to elevate the mediocre, because as soon as one puts a mediocre person in the stratosphere, that mediocre person is unequipped to deal with it. Only exceptional people can handle exceptional societal elevation.

Thinking of Trees

Neil Peart

I've already admitted I come from "that Rush/Genesis place." As a young literary and musical fellow who was learning to play drums, I worshiped both the playing and the lyrical creations of the great Neil Peart.

This morning I was enjoying the soft springtime quiet of my backyard. As I reclined, I looked up at the trees overhead out into the woods behind my house. This song lyric came back into my mind. The reason is obvious. There were...lots of...you know...trees. But I guess my mind has been chewing on the idea of a mediocrity borne of good intentions, especially in both education and in modern parenthood. I even spoofed the idea here, in my new column for When Falls the Coliseum, last week.

Whatever the reason, I always loved this lyric by Peart -- so succinct; so objectively-toned, despite its incisive point. The political point may be debatable, but the outcome of the quest to make everyone equal is all too familiar, especially these days. It's just such a great little fable...