A high number of merits earned by an individual is a sign that he is a quality poster but it doesn't mean every less earned member is not knowledgeable enough. Earning merits depends on a lot of factors like which section we would like to post/discuss and which local board we belong to. So some members can earn more if their board and section have high active members and merit sources.
Actually what I wanted to tell is, if you are not making enough merits even after you are giving your maximum effort doesn't mean that you are not deserved to be on bitcointalk at someday you will get caught by the merits sources until that keep posting and learn new things which you are being yourself.
Exactly,
at first, i didn't think I could get my first merit,
I used to try to be diligent creating a good and useful posts, and apparently someone suddenly gave me merit.
So just trying and trying, keep learning and learning.