(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Kitchen Table Kibitzing: 4/25/26 [1] ['Glen The Plumber', 'View Profile', 'Greg Dworkin'] Date: 2026-04-25 The belief in the virtues of meritocracy seems to be the prevailing wisdom in Silicon Valley. The value of equity is often dismissed outright. Just doesn’t fit into the fast-paced world of high tech business where everybody is racing to get ahead… or so say many. Being a simple person I often look to simple analogies to help me grasp bigger issues. What is true in little ways is very often true in bigger ways. For meritocracy, equality, and equity I’ll use the 100-meter dash as I work this out in my brain. For this analogy we can ignore the different divisions; sex, age, etc.. Will point out the fastest man is Usain Bolt at 9.58 seconds. Yet, Florence Griffith-Joyner comes in at 10.49, less than a second between them. No doubt, in her prime FloJo could have beaten 99.9999% of all the people on earth. The 100-meter dash is pretty simple, the first person across the finish line wins, meritocracy. Everybody runs the same distance, follows the same rules; stay in your lane, don’t start before the gun, etc., equality. But overlooked is the role of equity, everything that happens before the race. When competing at the Olympic level everything is considered; nutrition, clothing, training. All provided to you by others to help you perform at your peak. No expense is spared. But if we step back to the high school level, support is not so consistent. Not everybody’s opportunities are equal. Maybe your school doesn’t have a decent track and field program. Maybe the track is potholed. Poor equipment. Maybe the coach isn’t that good. Maybe he is a bigot and you don’t feel comfortable joining his team because you are gay, or a person of color. Maybe your parents are too busy working to get you into a good program or drive you to practice. Maybe too poor to buy you proper shoes, or provide proper nutrition. Just so many factors could handicap or discourage the next Usain or FloJo. If you were building a business track team, maybe you would overlook the kid with cerebral palsy like Jaydin Blackwell (10.46). Or not willing to help the visually impaired kid find the finish line; Salum Ageze Kashafali (10.37). You could be missing out on the people that could not only contribute but be the one that makes your business track and field team a winner. Think about the diversity of a track and field team, all the different sizes and shapes. Each sport has its own set of skills. If you’re the coach, isn’t your job to find the sport that best matches the skills of each individual? If your goal is to have a winning team you’d want students that were not just motivated to do their best, but you’d want them to have every opportunity to achieve their peak performance. It seems to me, as a society we could create a better… a more prosperous world if we invested in creating a more equitable world for the next generation to grow up. Before they even get to the starting line. Hope you join me for my next KTK in two weeks where I’ll be discussing two books I found very well-written and informative. The first is about how, maybe subconsciously, we go to great lengths to avoid new things and experiences. But that often if find the courage to sample a diversity of experiences we can be more satisfied. Variety is the spice of life. Feeds the soul. The other is about the dangers of unregulated capitalism. It discusses wasteful consumerism, poor use of resources, and greed. How it not only hurts the community but often the capitalists too. Or maybe some ramblings on campaigns; candidates, consultants, constituents, etc… Let me know if either pique your interest. …anyway…some pics from the last two weeks. tell me your fave. morning is breaking…like really breaking …like all hell breaking saw this cute guy…so fuzzy had to give him a pet afterward looked him up on google…”do not touch!! venomous!!” too embarrassed to go to the er…tell my family I love them Attribution: Glen The Plumber peaceful why all the drama? let’s have a look inside…oh. busy…busy…aren’t we? won’t last long…enjoy while you can. late addition [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/4/25/800027822/community/kitchen-table-kibitzing-4-25-26/ Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/