the meritocracy?

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200205/brooks
"The Merits of Meritocracy"
by David Brooks
May 2002
The Atlantic

This is not the most coherent of articles. But it is certainly thought-provoking (perhaps because it covers so much ground). It is basically Brooks describing the ethical world, the ethical problems, faced by a certain sort of modern person (I want to say: overachievers). On the one hand, our lives seem radically open, and we also seem to lack defining moments: the struggle never ends. (Of course, Brooks doesn't seem aware that the life of the meritocrat is also radically closed to certain sorts of options - like mediocrity, like not going to college, etc). And this seems, according to Brooks, to leave us with the moral imperative to do our best - to develop our potentialities to the best of our abilities.

I'm not really sure what to say.