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THE FECUNDITY OF MEDIOCRITYAside
from the immobilizing power of fear and it's preponderance, why do you suppose
there is so little brilliance in the world? So little unique and so much
"cookie-cutter"? Since we are all truly one of a kind; why does that
not manifest itself more frequently? I purport: The absence of wisdom. A short
but telling tale should suffice. Once,
and many times since, upon a time there three princesses: Princess Mycelpha,
Princess Lettami, and Priocess Soffia. All the princesses were full of ideas,
and each possessed a surety that their ideas were the best. Princess Soffia to
her credit recognized other ways would work, but her sisters had not evolved
to that ecclesiastical echelon. Implementing their ideas is where the
problems began. When something came up and a decision was to be made, each
wanted her way to win out. One
day as the festival of the New Year was approaching, the princesses were in
charge of decorating The Grand Foyer for the up and coming ball. Princess
Lettami, the youngest and sad to say the most spoiled, had gotten an early
start on the decorating. She had a vision as to how the garland should flow
and had spent quite a lot of time setting about achieving the "Royal Look"
she desired. She was a little concerned that Princess Mycelpha and Princess
Soffia had not shown up yet and there was still much to do. Soon,
gratefully they arrived; all happy to be together and excited about the final
outcome of their hard work and glorious finish. Not
more than a few minutes had elapsed before the first signs of struggle began.
Personality Power Struggle, that is! Princess Mycelpha took one look at what
Princess Leltami had thoughtfully and painstakingly accomplished and right
away began editing her travail. "Oh
Lettami," spoke the middle princess. "That garland would look so much
better over there.
And the lights
are much too heavily placed in the center. Spread them out a little!" Princess
Lettami boomeranged back, "I think I have it pretty well set up in this area. Why don't you work over there, or perhaps on the flowers.
And Soffia, why not make yourself useful of the background decorations?" Princess
Mycelpha persisted, "Really, there are just too many lights in one spot,
and we must rearrange the placement
of the bushed!" Princess
Lettami getting more insistent following each retort, "Look, we have to
have balance. Everything must be symmetrical. I have
to have it this way!" Which, of course, meant Princess Mycelpha was not
going to get it her way. Which, of course, lead to another round of retorts.
While they went on and on volleying suggestions curtly back and forth,
Princess Soffia, who was a bit if an iconoclast, was crunching gold material
and covering a plain white pedestal with it to give it a more festive yet
slightly quirky appeal. To her, as she was quite brilliant in her sense of
esthetics, it looked marvelous! But the two princesses were having a tizzy
over the somewhat offbeat objet d'art, which their oldest sister had just
concocted! Princess
Myceipha spoke first, "Why don't you smooth out the crunched look and let
it drop loosely over the pedestal in a more traditional manner?" Princess
Lettami piped in,
Oh no, that
won't do at all!" And in one swell swoop banished the whole decorating
project Soffia had been working on. Princess Soffia was a bit disappointed.
She thought a slightly strange but new approach would make something unique
out of the prosaic. But for peace she acquiesced to her strong willed sisters demand for
compliance to their wishes. So an idea which might have had a dazzling effect
for all the kingdom to see and enjoy was left on the cutting room floor. Princess
Soffia really had more experience and talent in this area than either of her
sisters, but felt that yielding was the wisest course to peace. And wisdom is first of all peaceable. So
Soffia choose the innocuous job of threading popcorn, so Lettami could, when
she had finished, tell her exactly where and how to hang it. As Princess
Soffla sat there needling the popcorn piece by piece, hour by hour, she
watched Princess Lettami and Mycelpha haggle on into the night. Each fighting
to make sure her viewpoint won out. Every so often Princess Mycelpha would win
a battle, such as the flower arrangements, which was a good thing since she
had been in charge of the royal gardens for several years, and really new
better than Princess Lettami, how to pull off a smart design. Of course,
Princess Lettami thought she could do just as good, but because of time and
Princess Mycelpha's strong willful self, she was obliged to give in now and
then. So
near the stroke of midnight the decorating was complete. Because Princess
Lettami was the least competent but strongest (in a stubborn not goodly way),
her style was what reigned supreme! It was nice, decent., acceptable, fairly
pretty. But no snap, crackle, pop! No charisma. More drizzle than dazzle.
There were a few nice touches where Princess Mycelpha had bulldozed ahead with
her own insistence. But it looked usual, as usual. Yea, after year the
predominating feature was bland, accepted mediocrity. The Kingdom would be
denied the beauty and benefit of Soffia's glowing touches and contributions.
It looked, shall I say, sweet & low. Sweet (overall) and Low (in quality
of design). So
for those of you who didn't eat your banana today, so that your synapses make
menial acuity a reality, I'll spoon feed you. Here's the revelatory
translation: There are three types of people. Yes, only three! The first two
arc definitely stereo-types; for the resounding of their boisterous demanding
voices are as surrounding as any Am/Fm receiver ever made! Firstly,
let's establish the issue of equality or lack there of. God is fair. You
can be average yet unique. One of God's average creations is still quite a
marvel! But Joe, you are average. Average in itself is not bad, but average
mingled with pride, ego, and selfwilledness is the main reason the above
average seldom get to shine through. Stereo-type
two: Above average and full of yourself. Stereo-type
three: Above average and full of Him. What
happened in the story is I believe a microcosm of what takes place on said
planet. Simply put: majority rules. Mediocrity (Y.A.J.) being the majority.
Not that that is how it should be, but it fulfills my adage: "Give a
little person a little power, and they will show how truly little they are.' The
average person is strong willed, and that includes the seemingly passive, We
humans devise and implement many ways to get our way. All three types know how
to get their way, but only the first two use and abuse this power. The third
type has wisdom and is willing to lay down that power. Though they would like
to shine (for His glory and theirs) and have the insight and ability to create
a masterpiece, they choose to give tip their designs to gain the greater good:
Peace. This is no small feat! Their rare gifts are seldom displayed to benefit
the world because of it. Wars are fought on family and world wide scales
because of the first two types. Usually the Lettami type wins out. We do see
some brilliance because the Mycelpha group is equally self-willed and can
occasionally push through and land on top( the Michael Jacksons or Donald
Trumps of the world). The Soffia group, gifted and yielded to Him, who could offer so
much to ameliorate the world's banality, goes mainly unnoticed, unappreciated,
and saddest of all unutilized. There are a handful that through chance or
grace (I don't have the ratios on that one) are allowed to shine and benefit
all mankind (Mother Teresa and Scott Peck come to mind). Y.A.J.'s truly don't
know what they are missing. And don't care. It's more important to get their
way......................Pity
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