Extending from a discussion Angela and I had this weekend: I have always, even in childhood, had a strange hatred for the fable of the The Tortoise and the Hare. In Western society we must constantly be subjected to this flawed allegory and its bizarre logic of "slow and steady wins the race". It is true that, in some cases, a slower and more meticulous hand is best when performing delicate or complicated tasks. However, "slow and steady" does not win a race. Slow and steady loses a race. Fast and furious wins a race (allusion NOT intended, by the way).

Society's utter failure to glean any true value from this story derives from the folly of seeing the tortoise as the protagonist. That is, WE can ALL be the tortoise. That if we simply bask in our mediocrity we can rest assured that, eventually, our vastly superior opponents will make a crucial error that will allow us to overtake them. This is utterly stupid logic. You can't rely on your opponent to slip up. You can't expect them to take a nap in the middle of the race course.

The way we should really analyse this tale is from the perspective of the hare. In this way, we can say that no matter what edge we have on our opponent, we should not become complacent, or let a task languish half-completed. Showing such blatant disregard for the quality or completeness of our work because we are otherwise so-darn-good-at-it is a mistake. Knowing not to repeat such mistakes is the TRUE lesson we should take away from the fable.

I am especially prompted to think of this lesson lately because I've had lots of time to watch the Vancouver Canucks: they are a team full of very talented players. But they're also hockey team who are especially fond of playing their hearts out through 50-75% of a hockey game only to inevitably slack off and give the opposing team enough time to recover and win the game. The Canucks don't bother to make the effort against weaker teams, only to be blindsided by those teams before the Canucks have a chance to regroup.

Never show your opponent a moment of weakness, they will always exploit it.