Rat Race?

We all knew the saying
"The winner in a rat race is still a rat"
But, we all kept running all the same
For the bounty and the shameful fame,
Of being 'The' rat
Or the First among rats!

A mere piece of bread,
Thrown purport-fully to tempt,
Would never fail to agitate our lot,
Whether we got it nor not.
Some would run for fear,
Mostly imagined, never real.

Yet many would run,
Simply because, Many others are.
Too busy to ask 'Why?'
Or even think 'What for?'

There are a few who run
To get away from the tails of past.
After years of sweat,
Only get frustrated to find the past
Clinging on to them and moving just as fast!

Oh, the old puzzle is never old enough,
Of an onlooker trying to make out
"Who is ahead?"
"Who follows whom?"
In an ongoing race in a circle.

A race where the means and the ends
Are not in sight.
Eyes myopic, sense of smell ageing,
Blurs the sense of wrong and right.
Rats come and go,
Rats watch rats run,
Rats live and Die,
But rats never learn!