Competition and excellence are as American as baseball and apple pie. The idea is that one should take optimum advantage of God-given talents and abilities by striving to be the best possible so as to achieve important goals and objectives.
That notion, so the story goes, will help prepare one for the rigors and challenges of the real world where one’s abilities and performance are carefully scrutinized in order to select the “best candidates” for employment and for promotion and salary opportunities.
Indeed, when employers look to hire, the object is to find the most qualified prospective employee. Scant little time is spent in HR offices or corporate board rooms fretting over “hurt feelings” or exclusivity discrimination.
The business of professional sports is an excellent example. Baseball scouts search high and low for young players who can run the fastest, throw the ball the furthest, and whom can hit a baseball with the greatest power and accuracy.
Rarely does a big-league baseball manager take a budding superstar aside and counsel the young man: “Your batting average and home run production is depressing to some of the other players with more average talents. You should strike out more often, hit with less power, and stop running so damn fast! Do it for the team!”
Likewise, a high-tech team leader in Silicone Valley is unlikely to say the following to “techies” assigned to develop an innovative, new product line:
“Folks, of course we want to be # 1 in sales, quality, and profit. Still, we have a moral obligation to guard against “hurt feelings” among our competitors. So, when you are inventing gadgets and technological miracles for the future, consider how your innovation will impact the feelings of your counterparts working for competitors!”
Of course, these are silly, outrageous examples.
Unfortunately, this sort of progressive buffoonery is creeping into our education system.
For instance, concerns about the “exclusive nature” of the annual honors night at Archie R. Cole Middle School in Rhode Island have caused school officials to scrap the tradition.
Instead, students who would normally be recognized at the annual spring tradition will be honored during team-based recognition ceremonies and graduation.
Thus, out-of-touch liberals at the school have implemented the progressive worship of mediocrity and equality, especially at the expense of excellence.
Parents with children who attend Archie R. Cole Middle School should move, with haste, to transfer their offspring to schools that will encourage and reward excellence.
Perhaps equality-driven progressives could level the playing field a bit by having a “Hurt Feelings” awards ceremony for the less accomplished students? Call it a gathering of "Future Democrats!"
John W. Lillpop
San Jose, California
John W. Lillpop is a recovering liberal. “Clean and sober” since 1992 when last he voted for a Democrat. For years, John lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, the very liberal sanctuary city which protects, rather than prosecutes, certain favored criminals. John escaped the Bay Area in May and now lives in Pine Grove California where conservative values are still in vogue.
