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David and Goliath

I have never been especially fond of the story of David and Goliath. Mostly it is because of what appear to be significant exaggerations for effect in the story. It does affect me as an important allegory for values, however.

From a historical perspective, this story preserves a form of combat memorialized twice in the Iliad, and common among the 'Sea Peoples' of the bronze Age Mediterranean- Greeks, Phoenicians, Philistines. In this stylized combat, the armies would array themselves with a space between, and then two champions would step forward and fight. The armies would then abide by the results of the champions' duel, or there would be a general melee if not. This is seen in the Iliad with the duel of Paris and Menelaus, and Hector and Achilles.

I am all for a meritocracy. People who do well should be rewarded. Too often, prior winners want to entrench and enjoy the fruits of success continually, even when there is no further achievement to justify rewards. The recent Pulitzer Prizes reflect this, with the New York Times and Washington Post taking home about half the prizes, while the National Enquirer got ignored, even after breaking the story of John Edwards' affair.

Oddly, this is where I see a genuine role for governmental oversight (not necessarily regulation). I greatly dislike affirmative action, but decry the exclusion of anyone based on race or religion. If you achieve, you get the job, or the school prize, or whatever. If there is an attempt to exclude based on anything except achievement, then I do feel society, as expressed through government, should step in to prevent exclusion by those who merely want to keep themselves in the goodies.

The victory of David against such apparently large odds, reminds that when the fight is really personal and fairly fought, the winner generally deserves it. Goliath didn't get a walkover just for his size. As is said in baseball, that is why you play the game.

The same should be true for education, hiring, promotion. No protection of the 'haves'- they have to justify their status. No favoritism to overcome historical wrongs- compete on your own merits. Somehow no one feels obliged to engage in affirmative action for whites on basketball teams, or more relevantly in engineering schools, where orientals predominate.

Goliath should not get a pass just for being a prior champion and large. David should not get a hand up just because he is small.

Ted

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