MEDIOCRITY: It Kills But It Can Be Overcome.

In a layman's understanding, mediocrity depicts whatever that's 'below average'. In this case, average is taken as the benchmark upon which excellence takes off. Therefore, mediocrity is bad, excellence is good. It's simple as that, yet it's bigger than it seems.

By implication, mediocrity is the horizontal cousin of foolishness. Some say it's the younger sibling of stupidity. Yet some say mediocrity is better than being an outright fool or idiot. Whichever way one looks at it, mediocrity has nothing to do with excellence which is the hallmark of merit.

Sadly, ours is a society where mediocrity is king. Name it. Is it in the public sector where a man gets a position of influence based on whom he knows, and not by excellence, the very antithesis of mediocrity? Give me one reason our public sector is not working in this country. If it does not tally with what I know, then I will have to reconsider my position.

Or in the private sector, the very sector that's supposed to shun mediocrity because it's largely driven by profit maximization, still being the bubbling hub of mediocrity? It's a litany of pathetic stories of mediocrity everywhere one goes!

Any wonder the country is stuck in the doldrums. Those who are capable of reflective thinking will readily agree with yours truly that the country is not working or making any organic growth because excellence took a long flight to the south long ago. When will it return? Until we banish mediocrity. And it starts with you and I!

Nothing seems to work here because it's the mediocre folks that handle the fundamentals leaving the periphery to  those who are actually vast in the fundamentals. Empirical evidences abound to substantiate this claim.

Take the medical sector as a case study. Majority of our private hospitals are stuffed by 'auxiliary nurses' doing the job of a well-trained nurse. Why? The owner wants to cut corners. He cannot pay qualified nurses, thus, he resorts to hiring ladies of insufficient secondary education and trains them to become nurses! What sort of nursing care will one get from such folks?

The fact that one has got some tertiary education does not mean one is automatically exempted from the loop of mediocrity. When you are not properly groomed in the nitty-grityy of your discipline, when the fundamentals of your profession seem alien to you, you personify mediocrity. That's what our system turns out these days: mediocre education, mediocre graduates, meidocre society. What more can one say?

The reality is that no man can give what he does not have. It's just like the computer jargon: garbage in, garbage out. You can only expire what you have inspired before, though it could come out in a modified form like biological respiration.

Mediocrity hinders progress. It impedes real growth and development. It's killing. It's retarding, but it can be overcome. It can be conquered, but it requires an admixture of strong will and steely determination.

I will go personal. My understanding and appreciation of music was at best at a mediocre level coming from the country side and breezing into a cosmopolitan society like Lagos. But I was determined to overcome the challenge. Today, I enjoy all sorts of music ranging from country music, reggae, hiphop, continental, classical music, jazz to all what not. It's a matter of determination and the will to overcome.

But hey folks, you can only overcome mediocrity when you see it as a challenge. It's a challenge actually to those who want to grow. You can overcome it. No society can grow with mediocrity as its national anthem.It has never been found anywhere in the history of mankind where mediocrity propels growth. Go out there and conquer your own demon- mediocrity!-

By:

Dayo Williams.