Wow! That’s hard to swallow. Honing your skills is a fundamental necessity of survival for the hunter, musician, athlete, surgeon, politician, artist and even writers. Some are “born” with prodigious advantage; Mozart. Others grind out every morsel; any family farmer anywhere in the world. If you do not work to be more skilled tomorrow than you are today you will be less likely to thrive and more likely to be eaten, or bankrupt or find yourself in the care of the State.

Reaping the rewards for your efforts results in the display of merit. The car you drive, tractor you plow with, guitar you play, house you live in, charity you fund, restaurant you frequent. Because you move in those environs you display the merits of your effort. Indeed, the number of comments your article has garnered is a form of meritocracy. That, is a good thing; and far better than any alternative I’ve heard of.

As one of the others who commented said, don’t look only at the outliers for the purpose of contrast. Reality is much more in the middle.