I am a person tied in a myriad of ways to the middle.  I am a middle child, born in the middle of the last century, live in the midwest with a middle-income.  I graduated several times in the middle of my class and have stood mid-rung on the ladder of success of a bunch of different careers.  Far from being mediocre, though, being in the middle has offered me an equidistant view to the world.  From my particular vantage point, it is focusing too much on getting to the top of the ladder where one can lose perspective.  All the good stuff happens in the process of climbing.  I began to realize, as I got older, that the people on the top never looked all that happy and the people on the bottom didn’t look all that safe.  It is this regard that I have never, ever in my life felt mediocre.  It feels good to stand where I’m standing because it will never mean ordinary in the mundane sense of the word, it will always mean the central point, the place of balance with a view to everything.