The best of the best

There is a very human behavior, all too human, which is the need for competition. I'm talking about that obsession with finding the best director, the best actor, the best school teacher, the best friend, or the best pot saleswoman.

My friend Julieta explained to me that comparison is one of the foundations of our progress above the rest of the species. It drives us to strive for exceptional results. According to her, there is no area where there are not figures considered superior. Phrases like "she's from another planet," "she's a diva," "he's a genius," or "people like that are born once every hundred years" betray a bit our need to idealize.

The theme even extends to things. These branded pants are better than the national ones, the farm egg is better than the supermarket one, or the Cuban revolution is better than the French one. To me, those pants, that egg, and the revolutions seem like the same nonsense. But if I say that in public, I'm labeled as ignorant.

It seems that no matter what we do, there will always be something better in this life. Effort, then, should be futile. There's no point in doing something if eventually someone will do it better.

In that rambling conversation with Julieta, we got hungry and looked for the best restaurant in the city. After twenty minutes of asking people, we ended up at a place run by some Turks who didn't understand us at all. In the end, we found ourselves in the street having some beers and sharing a pita bread.

"By far the best lunch of our lives" was the phrase that concluded the debate.