There was a school of fish, and at school these young fish were taught how to find food, outmaneuver predators, and swim with the currents. The school gave out awards to those who excelled in these learnings, to celebrate their achievements, but then some someones somewhere decided that it wasn’t fair to those fish that didn’t get any award. And they thought, “Wouldn’t it be nicer if the playing field was leveled and no one felt left out?”

So instead of awards for those who had an “A” in outmaneuvering predators or the fastest food finders, they had awards for being a fellow classmate, and for all those who could open their eyes. Well on awards days it became all too common to have no students looking on at their fellow students accepting awards on stage, because all were on stage, getting theirs. Yes, no one was left out, and the someones somewhere were content to see that no one’s feelings were hurt.  Yes, there was a great celebration for mediocrity.

Well graduation day came, and these less younger fish left school with their humble awards, and left their smaller pond for the greater ocean, where they then were either gobbled up by larger fish, or beached, where they dried up in the sun while trying to suck on a piece of sand for nourishment.

Yes, another success story. Perhaps those someones somewhere had been overly praised for their mediocrity too.

Note: Of course some schools have not disallowed competition all together. Of course not, they’ve invested much money in important things like football fields (Those rebel rousing guppies). And you know what? The day after their graduation day … looked just as unpromising as the others.

Hmm?

Roger McManus