Competition Curve

Look at it, the beautiful idea of the normal curve. For that is what it is, it is a mathematical construct which smiles at us like a lazy anaconda and tells us, "This, this is normal, this is what things should be. BURP."

And the curious thing about this normal curve is that it is flattish at both ends and it flattens out in the middle, but there are two spots at which the degree of curvature is very high. One of them is when the tail end, ignored, reviled and despised, attempts to climb up to 'normality'. The other is when the middle, bulging with half-digested ideation, attempts to squeeze its way into the thin head of the engorged snake.

The problem is not with the former. There is so much more space in the middle that we can accommodate people drifting towards the middle. But here lies mediocrity, and while those below the middle wouldn't mind entering this zone, those in the middle are aching to get out of it.

They will push up and on, they will strive to be the best, they will seek a better age. And therein lies the rub: it takes proportionately far less resources to get the under-average into the average than the average into the excellent. It is extremely painful, in fact.

And that is why the complaints about how tough any system is will not come from the bottom, but from somewhere just below the neck.