The Lake Wobegon Effect

They looked like Chris Christie wannabes. They didn't have shoulders. They were an A-frame from their ears to their hips. The two men knew each other, but they weren't good friends. They laughed too loud at each other's inanities, and tried to hard to show they were winners.

They were a little like some of the chefs on "Chopped" who announce, "I'm gonna win this one! There's no way these guys can beat me!" It is always so nice when they lose.

A recent high school poll showed that 80% of the students thought they were exceptional. I thought of the grading curve used when I was in college: 5% As, 15% Bs, 60% Cs, 15% Ds, and 5% Fs. A Bell Curve. I knew I wasn't exceptional. 95% of us were not exceptional.

The two guys having lunch were exceptional. They exuded self-confidence, and they had examples to tell.

"B.S.!", I thought. "Why don't they relax, and enjoy their burgers and fries? Why don't they talk about politics, or what they saw on T.V., or something they read or heard?"

Maybe it was because they weren't exceptional. Maybe they were just overweight, and underwater on their mortgages, and worried about their jobs. Maybe they weren't very good at math, or music, or sports, either.

Most of us are in the middle, more or less. Except here in Minnesota, of course, where, as Garrison Keillor says, "all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average."

We don't need a President who is like most of us. We can do better than that.

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