Last night was the big Division Speech Contest. Yours truly was there...and competing....
...and failing to come in first place.
Let's see, what do they call that person? - the one that comes in first.....oh, yes.... Now I recall....Winner.
When you have a winner - you also have Losers. Last night, I was a Loser. Of course, in today's politically correct world, we don't say that, do we? "You're all winners because you all competed here tonight," is the phrase often heard at these contests.
...and it's not true!
The Winner...WON!! - she did a great job. She deserves to be called THEE Winner. To call me a winner demeans her achievement.
The Problem that we have - is how we look at the term loser. It's like it is a lifelong branding of someone. There is a bad connotation to it. I don't feel that way at all. I have come in second, third, tenth in lots of things. And I was perfectly happy with my placement.
As a matter of fact - I came in 63rd in the California International Marathon about 25 pounds ago.......and I couldn't have been more thrilled. Yet, I was just as much a loser as the other 2000+ that failed to cross the finish line first.
It gets down to this - if I expect the world to be politically correct so they don't hurt my feelings, I am going to get hurt if they aren't politically correct. For me, I don't put my mental well being in the hands of others. There is far too much risk there. If I did my best, I am quite content with being a loser.
The Key is the association YOU...YOU...YOU attach to the term - hey, I would rather be a loser than a spectator. It means I mixed it up. I was in the fray. I stepped up my game. It wasn't as good as the winner's. But I saw how I can improve.....and I improved along the way.
It's easy to be a critic and call someone a loser...or think someone is a loser - I'll take loser over critic.
PS Psssst.....hey, I'll let you in on a secret....shhhhh...don't tell anyone. If you can move yourself up to the top 20% in just about anything in this life....you'll do just fine. Trust the ol Nutster on that one. Yes, you'll be a loser....but I've made a pretty nice life out of it.
2 comments:
This is great. I get so tired of being told to be "PC" all the time to avoid hurting someone's feelings. I don't set out to hurt someone's feelings however, I don't want to twist the truth either. Everything now days seems to be twisted so we don't hurt someone's self esteem. I wish people would realize our self esteem should be based on our relationship with our God, not our world. All we do is harm ourselves and our children by trying to be "PC" all the time!
Amen!
Do we want our children to be like butter? To melt at the first instance of struggle or harsh words or pain?
There are lots of references I thought of... but it all comes down to being honest with our children and ourselves.
I mean- Banning the use of red ink by Teachers for grading, not allowing the use of the word fail, and No Child Left Behind. I could spout many peeves I have (I work in the school system *sigh*), but I'll leave it at- If I'm to grow and mature (and if my children are to do the same) then I can't waste time with PC.
-n
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