Winning is everything !

Today, in our society, everything reminds us constantly that in fact we attach an ever increasing importance to the hierarchy level of individual scores and ranking, while all the pedagogues of the world continue to state in every possible way that nothing is worse than ranking, that children must be taught to be themselves and not compare to others.

The Olympic Games is a shining example of this fact. And the Rio Olympic Summer Games to an even greater extent compared to previous Olympic games. Long gone are the days of Pierre de Coubertin, the reviver of the Games, when he could say, according to legend at any rate, that ? the important thing is taking part.? Gone are the times when a country was happy to get a king's ransom of medals in gold, silver or bronze. The Rio Games introduces something new that is not as anecdotal as it seems: only winners occupy center stage. It is the gold medal or nothing. Whoever wins a silver medal is treated with compassion. He is comforted and nobody would think of admiring him. As for those who get a bronze medal, they are entitled to a few seconds of polite applause plus a minute of compassion, before joining into the nothingness of fame all those who only take part.

This fascination for the winners only is one of the weak signals that we want to take seriously because it tells us much about our time.

In all aspects of the world, and not only on sport grounds, there is indeed increasingly less room for anyone but the winner. It is a fact today in economic competition that only a company with a dominant role in a new market will stay, expand and make profits. Any business that does not have the largest customer base is choked by the winner, as demonstrated by the failure of the competitors of Google, Facebook or Amazon. Even American business schools are teaching that ? the winner takes all.? This also explains the extreme concentration of wealth we are seeing more and more often.

This is also true in politics, where it is of no use to come off second best in an election. Again, the winner takes all. And this is of course even more true for dictatorships. Similarly, in many other areas the focus is exclusively on those at the top, the best in a given field. We all dream of being under the care of the best doctor and being taught by the best teacher. Having access to the best the world has to offer is even considered as the prerogative of wealth and power.

It is understandable that there is a fascination for winners and disappointment of being ? next in line.? But if we insist on using this measuring standard, we condemn most of humanity to frustration and rage. An ideal world would be, on the contrary, one in which we all would find an area in which we excel, in order to take pleasure and best perform in this area, without the need to compare to others' accomplishments. A world in which it would not be required to be the winner to survive and be happy. A world of mutual respect and assistance, where the ‘winner’ would be best rewarded with help provided to others, in particular those who come last.