In this Godforsaken world, merit is the closest thing we’ve got to a real virtue. The saints of the meritocracy are the makers, the creators, who despite living in a world of lazy consumers, talkers and thinkers, actually create things of value for everyone to enjoy on the free market. And that is where true merit can be measured, by the amount of dollars their creations generate. 

That’s because in this world, money talks. And thus, virtue is best represented by a combination of material success and philanthropy. Material success proves talent and strength, philanthropy proves character. And that is how you can distinguish the high from the low, the men from the boys.

…

While playing this game we will not take into account privilege, timing and opportunity. We will not take into account chance. We will not attribute any inherent merit to our creations and the flywheel effect they sort once acquiring a critical mass. We don’t have to, because these things are out of the scope of anyone’s control, right? 

After all, when opportunity rises, it’s still up to the individual to seize it. It’s also true that many opportunities only present themselves to those who have walked the path required to encounter and recognize them. 

In more pious days, more emphasis would be put on a sense of duty a given opportunity invokes in us. Virtue would then be the extent to which someone answers this call. Any opportunity would be regarded as bigger than ourselves as opposed to regarding ourselves as the masters of opportunity. 

That slight change in perspective matters. It’s the difference between a humble perspective and an arrogant perspective. And the reason it matters is not because of the social image it creates, the virtue signal it delivers.

There’s nothing inhumane about falling into arrogance, especially in this Godforsaken world. But always be reminded there’s nothing more humane than returning to a place of service and letting all merit flow back to its true universal origin.