The world is divided into the many and the few along all sorts of lines. There are the many followers and the few leaders. The many reactive and the few proactive.
The many poorly educated and the few well educated. The many prey and the few predators. The many poor and the few rich.
The many who don’t plan ahead and the few who do.
The Pareto principle or 80/20 rule seems to apply everywhere. 20% of the people account for 80% of the problems in the world. 20% of the people own 80% of the resources. 80% of one’s business comes from 20% of one’s customers. The skill and innovation of 20% of an organization carries along the other 80% of the employees. And so on. The many and the few again.
Of all these many-few distributions the one that interests me most is the difference between the few who struggle to see the world the way it really is and the many who are content to see the world the way they have been taught to see it by their families, their religions, their cultures and their peers. It is one of the few cases where each individual can choose whether to be one of the many or one of the few.
Of course none of us ever sees the world the way it really is. All of us have our vision clouded to one degree or another by our expectations and experiences. And the real world is far too complex and subtle to be fully grasped by any human mind. At best, and with great effort and persistence, we get only occasional tantalizing glimpses of reality.
Still, as Erasmus noted, "In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king". Who sees the world more clearly than his opponents and competitors has the critical advantage. Besides, the real world is far more wonderful and fascinating than the simplistic myths we have created for ourselves. It’s more satisfying to be one of the few than one of the many.
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