The race will go to the slick

If I’ve learned nothing else in my few years on this planet, I have learned this: The fix is in!

Doesn’t matter who you are or what you do, or what philosophy or faith you adhere to, the fix is in and accolades, plum jobs, contracts, awards and so forth will go to people that other people in positions of influence have decided should get the strokes. Those who labor in the ranks will largely go unrecognized and unlauded.

What, for example, of the nuns who toiled away in festering Indian communities in the cause of Mother Theresa? Mother T. got the hype and the face-time, but Sisters Cecelia, Marie-Celeste, and Bambi (well, there may have been one called that) went unrecognized.

As another example, were you really remotely surprised that Porky Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize? Do you think Hillary Clinton had to change her undies when she soiled them after hearing the news? Scatological cheapshot notwithstanding, I had to wonder about this, just considering the guy just might try now to get the Democratic nomination, despite the fact he (sort of) lost to a ‘loser’ one other time around.

At the same time, I remain perplexed about him winning the prize he did. I mean, it’s the ‘Peace’ prize, for heaven’s sake, not the ‘Flavor of the Moment’ Prize. In this I do not take from Gore’s quest to save the world from ‘us’ and he has raised some points that must be regarded with the utmost seriousness, despite the fact he is not (stress ‘is not’) a climate scientist. But, he is big news at the moment, so he slipped in quite effectively in a global competition that has become in recent years something of a popularity and political contest, rather than a genuine award that truly recognizes those who have made great strides in the direction of global peace, or science, or medicine, or literature. Otherwise, how does one explain those who write in Finno-Ugric or Basque winning the literature prizes? “Great books and understandable to at least nine people worldwide.”

At least, that’s what I think.

It has been said that the world consists of B-students working for C-plus student managers who answer to C-minus student corporate bosses. Not saying I agree, but certainly not saying I disagree. Just think about some of the people you have either answered to, or continue to answer to.

When I worked in the school system I saw rampant and flagrant examples of accolades and rewards going to a certain inner circle – an inept and untalented inner circle as often as not. That was because those who made the promotion decisions were ‘slap-you-on-the-back’ group of philistine ex-jocks. So, who was to be named to a principalship? You got it, and it wasn’t the studious English or biology teacher who was a master of his or her craft and to whom students remain grateful to this day.

At my wife’s high school, the vice-principal was a well-known ex pro football player.

“He was a moron,” says my wife. “And worse, he was obnoxious and self-impressed.”

But, he was a jock old-boy. Even better, he was a ‘name’ jock old boy.

All bureaucracies are rampant with these inequities of Peter Principle in action. Government agencies are required, for example, to advertise executive job opportunities. Good little drones from the ranks send in their resumes in hope of moving on from wherever they happen to be. Yet, why should they bother? Those in the position to make the decisions have already decided who will get the position, so the job posting was just pro-forma bullshit.

Do I say these things out of bitterness? Not a bit of it. But I say tem as a reflection of one of life’s little realities. A reality that makes me happy that I work for myself. I can praise myself or indict myself as I see fit.

As a final thought, especially if you are inclined to get overly exercised about rewards going to the undeserving, remember that there is absolutely no mention in the Bible or other Holy Books about “fair.”