Too Good?

I find this story unbelievable. A 9 year old baseball player is so good at pitching that parents of kids on other teams and coaches of other teams called for the league to ban him from that position. What?

I have kids that play little league sports and it can be frustrating to watch a game where the teams are “uneven”. But, I’ve never even considered the idea of protesting the team or the league to eliminate a kid or a team from the league. I’ve just always thought that the more practice, better game strategy or a few lucky breaks may be the way to overcome these situations. At the very least, the kids on the losing side of these games learn how to persevere, play hard and lose well. These seemed like good life skills to pick up as children grow up. What was I thinking?

The world will obviously be a better place when we do everything we can to keep the ones who excel at certain things out of those positions. I mean, we all deserve to feel better about ourself and think we’re actually better than we are in our performance. We must get those over achievers out of whatever system they’re in so that they can be redirected to something where they’ll be common. There is no doubt that it is this type of attitude that has made this country great!

I have no choice but to believe that this is how this group of parents and coaches think. It seems that there are too many people who try to find ways to dumb down the system or live at the lowest common denominator instead of stepping up their game.

God forbid a 9 year old have a 40mph fastball. I know that this is an isolated situation, but it seems that the philosophy that dictated these attitudes and actions are visible in many other areas – business, government, schools, and churches. This philosophy causes us to seek ways to be accommodated or graded on a curve instead of seeking ways to improve. Did these same people and those who are like minded seek to have Michael Phelps banned from swimming in the Olympics?

If this type of thinking continues, it will not be long before we don’t have anything great to celebrate. Our best – gifted by God, mind you – will be muted and our average will be deemed great.