Best

Best

      Many years ago, when my collection of plants was small, I tried to get the best azaleas. I knew that large, red flowers, completely covering a bush, would be the best. I've chronicled elsewhere my search for such. I thought I knew what was best. Maybe I shouldn't have been so dogmatic. The concept of “best” isn't simple.

The BEST landscape view, in my opinion. Tunnel View, Yosemite, May 2009

 For example:

      We're obsessed with celebrating the best. Who, or what, is the best of maybe thousands. Second best is largely forgotten. Consider the non-gardening examples in the odd collection below:

           a) Pro Football fans will remember many Super Bowl winners, but struggle when recalling the loser, a team ranking second that year of 32.

           b) How would you compare baseball players Mickey Mantle and Ken Griffey, Jr.? Mantle had several seasons better than any one of Griffey's, but personal failings limited his number of years. Griffey performed at a high level for many years. Performance is measured by “Wins Above Replacement” (WAR). From 1952 to 1962 Mantle was the best or one of the best. Eleven years. This was followed by a rapid decline. Ken Griffey, Jr. was a star from about 1990 to 2007, 27 years, never reaching as high as Mantle, but close. 

 

           c) Bobby Fischer was the best chess player of his time, not only based on rating, but also a World Championship. The man he beat for that title, Boris Spassky, never attained the height of Fischer's rating, but was still a World Champion and a feared Grandmaster for many more years than Fischer's brief dominance.

            Who's the best writer? Do you think that Leo Tolstoy or George Orwell had #1 best sellers?

             The best singer? In both categories, we can list people who have been one-hit-wonders but had no staying power. Are they better than artists who have never attained the top standing, despite being “one-of-the-best” for decades? Bruce Springsteen and “Martha and the Vandellas” reached “only” #2 on Billboard.

            There are no metrics for comparing the best artists, philosophers, politicians, or eccentrics (sorry, didn't mean to repeat myself). Every period of history has examples of those unrankable categories, even with a NY Times bestseller list available, or a Christie's Auction measuring value in dollars.

            A transitive relation says: if A is greater than B, and B is greater than C, then A is greater than C. Unfortunately, real life has many non-transitive relationships. Suppose Oklahoma beats Texas in football. Then Texas beats Ohio State. Logically, Oklahoma is better than Ohio State. When Ohio State beats Oklahoma, we see that sports, and much of life, is non-transitive. It happens all the time.

      Another example: voting. With candidate A getting 40% of the vote, B getting 35%, and C winning 25%, voters have chosen A as the winner. But if voters only chose between A and C, then C would win. How is that possible? Well, one way would be that voters for B, no longer able to vote for her, choose to back C, who would get 60% of the vote. Voters for C really don't like A. It happens all the time.

     The mathematical concept of an ordered lattice contains items which can be ranked, but not necessarily compared, as they're on different branches.

      Finally back to gardening and azaleas!

      Some plants massively cover themselves with flowers, and are a focal point. Approaching, you realize that each individual flower is not special in any way.

      On the flip side, there are some plants with intricate, multi-colored flowers that bear slow appreciation. But (you knew there was a “but” coming) the plant's branches are scraggly and uninteresting.

      Which of the two categories of plants is the “best?”

      In my garden, if a new bed could host hosta, ferns, and heucheras, everything would be fine. If only one type could appear, then varieties of hosta, which are larger, would be my choice. But if I could only have one plant there, heucheras would get my vote. Though small, they are much more colorful and intricate. Which do I think is best?

      Perhaps the concepts of “best,”, “We're Number One!” and “Champion” need to be retired, living out their lives on the porch, watching the world happily go by without them.