When Success Is Discouraged

A bit of history:

My sister was an honor student in high school. I most definitely was not. Still, despite whatever character flaws I had, I never begrudged my kid sis her success. She worked hard and she earned it, after all. I think most people at the time would have agreed with me.

Sadly, that way of thinking has gone the way of feathered hair and The Cosby Show. Today, the successful young people among us must go unnoticed and unrewarded for their hard work and efforts. Why? Because otherwise kids who are more like I was than like my sister was might feel bad. At least that's the reason we're all being given.

Take Cole Middle School, for instance. It's canceling it's yearly honors night. Why? Because some people are offended by the elitist nature of the event. What those people really are offended by, of course, is the elitist nature of success. The fact that we can't all be number one is simply too much for many Americans to bear these days.

What ever happened, you may ask, to the country that rose up out of a depression, won a world war, then later emerged victorious from a cold one? What happened to that country is that it changed. Some say it got soft and wimpy, but it's far more sinister than that.

A society which refuses to honor it's successes, you see, is secretly discouraging success. Ever hear the old expression: “The man wants to keep you down?” I always thought that sounded silly. Now I'm not so sure. There's generally an end game to trends such as the current one which feigns indifference towards achievement.

As for the students who would have been honored at Cole Middle School, parents were told these individuals would be receiving attention for their achievements in other ways. I'd say the school's given these kids more attention than they could possibly want – none of it good.