China (Winner Take All, Part 3)
Modern transportation and communications systems truly shrink the world. A writer recently pointed out how hard it is to maintain the health of metropolitan centers in light of the ability to work productively in any place in the world. This is good for most people, who rightly want to escape the congestion and expense of working in the cities.
But, there are situations where improved communications and transportation systems may prove to be a mixed blessing. I enjoy watching the spread of golf around the world. As I've noted before, golf to me is the perfect sport for everyone. I was, naturally, pleased to note that China has now embraced golf and will host four European professional tour events in the current season. I've watched, on television, some of the previous events conducted in China and the courses are beautiful, the fields are strong and the galleries are appreciative and enthusiastic. All in all, I saw only good news in this example of the growth of golf in China.
My pleasure was dampened by a recent newspaper article. According to the article, far from advancing the growth of golf, the professional events in fact keep golf in China from developing as I would like to see it. A prominent local pro pointed out that there is a winner take all aspect to the professional events. That is, because the European tour events showcase some of the world's best players, good local players are prevented from gaining the fans and money needed to participate at a local level.
I shouldn't have been surprised. I've written before about the winner take all effect. That is, as communications and transportation improve, making the best at various pursuits available to more and more people, the less talented lose some of the rewards they might have had in earlier days. Everyone has finite resources to devote to the things they enjoy. When the very best is accessible, I can't really blame those who devote their finite resources to the very best in preference to the next best. But there has to be a way to accomodate skills and talents at all levels. It's not a disgrace to enjoy some pursuit or calling in spite of failure to be the best in the world.
I continue to believe that the answer lies in ignoring the rewards. We don't need applause, we don't need economic rewards, we don't need to prevail in competitive situations to be successful. Success lies in doing our best, in trying our hardest. If, for reasons of talent, training or opportunity, others are objectively better, it's not failure. The only failure is not to try.
3-7-05
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