Thoughts on mediocrity

[Lekov]

This is basically just a little rant, but the idea of this has been buggin' me all day. It seems to me that in a way we are conditioned towards mediocrity in our lives. Exampls from all of about the last week or so:

I play a video game with my best friend, and he is continually upset because I am better at it, but he wants to keep playing. If I let him win, he is not truly winning and I would be cheating myself

Work. Ever notice the best workers are just that. The rest usually wind up thier bosses. The more you do around the office, and the more efficiently you do it, you wind up with other people's overload for your efforts. If I had a dollar for every time I hear, "But you do it faster" or "You're better at it" or "I have no idea where to start", I would actually feel like I've gotten a payraise of late. Yet when a boss's position opens up, I'm not 'eligable' for consideration.

Personal skills. If you were not good with computers, would your family call you weekly to help fix theirs? If you were not stronger than average, would you be the first person your friends call when they are moving? If you were poor at math, what are the odds you'd be stuck tutoring your sister for hours every night?

Back to video games, because it happened yesterday. Group of guys started up a season of football. They tell me they would be interested in another person playing. I play one game for a friend, and absolutely tear it up. Within the hour I'm hearing "Well, we all ready have 5 people, and that's hard to fit in". At least one person simply told me the truth, that it was not going to be any fun for the others if they knew they could not win.

Do something right the first time, people will ask for more before remembering to say thank you. I run an online mud with my wife, Gilly Bean. Almost every time I put in a code fix or area, before I hear anything good about the newest addition, I hear questions about when this will be put in or why something else is not yet done.


Of the two or three of you who have read this post or any of my others have likely noticed, I'm a bit long-winded, and for that I apologize. I have had an obsolutely rotten day overall, and needed to vent. I am just glad I have a great wife and kids to come home to, despite how oftern I joke about selling the kids into slavery. (Keep sending offers though people... they ARE cute kids).

Take care and good night all. Best of days to you all tomarrow!


Lekov

--- I must be here 'cause I'm not all there. ;o)

 

[Gilly Bean]

I will be accepting any and all bids now!


-snickers- Ok, we love em to death, but there are those days......

 

[CelestialBody]

 

[Calamity Jane]

The quest for mediocrity starts young

My mom has told me the story a hundred times about my first day in kindergarten. The teacher called home, terribly flustered, and in an awestruck voice said "Did you know your daughter could READ?" As if it was the most amazing thing she'd ever heard of. They wanted to move me to second grade because they had 'no facilities to deal with such a gifted child'. All of this because I could read in kindergarten.

In other grades, I'd get in trouble for completing assignments too quickly, reading ahead of the class, asking questions that the teachers needed to look up the answers to. I have very little doubt that had I gone to school 20 years later, the teachers would have demanded that I be medicated.

One teacher actually asked that I be removed from her reading class because my reading comprehension tested out higher than hers did. So I spent 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grades attending the same 6th grade classroom for English, Spelling and Reading.

This world has begun educating and employing to the lowest common denominator. Our lives are smoother if we just dumb down a bit and go with the flow instead of excelling. I learned quickly that unless i wanted teachers to glare at me and other students to shun me to act at least as clueless as them.

it's damn sad. and it's a great reason to homeschool.

Wow! Thanks for letting me join your rant!

 

[Lekov]

Glad you could join that rant

I've seen and heard about many of the things you described as well, and to put it frankly, it does suck. We've been going the route of smaller schools for our kids, so I hope they will not encounter the problems found in large public schools. I have no intention to change the way I do things, but it does get frustrating to sit back and see how others can coast where I won't let myself. ;p

I know I said it earlier in another thread, but it was easier to get the message lost. Great AV Pagan. Love that series of books. ;o)

 

[CelestialBody]

 

[Lancaster]

How can playing video games be anything other than an expression of mediocrity?

 

[Lekov]

Video games

-chuckle- Not a big proponent of video games, huh? Eh, to each their own, but I was specifically referring to the output of effort. My feelings on things like video games I have debated many times before (used to be with my parents about a decade or so ago). Basically though, they are like most other hobbies: watching movies/tv, playing cards, shooting pool, playing Dungeons & Dragons, reading message boards -chuckles-... granted that athletics or physical activity are better for you physically and reading/writing are more mentally stimulating, but if you're going to take the approach of mediocrity in medium, you really have to consider about 75% of american passtimes. ;o) We're a country of leisure by our nature and design.

 

[Willing and Unsure]

Re: Video games

Basically though, they are like most other hobbies: watching movies/tv, playing cards, shooting pool, playing Dungeons & Dragons, reading message boards -chuckles-... granted that athletics or physical activity are better for you physically and reading/writing are more mentally stimulating

but you can do almost all of those things playing video games