I hear the same thing so often in life and that is that winning is not important. As someone who coaches a mini cricket side, I often hear the parents tell the kids after the match that “we were all winners” or that the result is not important. What a load of crap! We are a society driven by winners.
There is only one person in the world that says we are all winners. The other variation on the theme is that he only plays for the fun or that he is only a social sportsman, etc. Yes, you guessed it – he/she/they are all losers! We have changed into a society that accepts average people as a rule. We are no longer striving to success.
It is all very nice and wonderful as we now suddenly don’t have to apply any pressure to our school children as it is ok to be part of the group. We do not acknowledge the fact that one is better that the other. That one is a winner and one is a loser. Suddenly you will get emotionally scarred if you don’t win! I have been around the block and I promise you that I do not see thousands of people with major complexities in their life just because they were losers at school. If fact, there are some of them that has really excelled when they got a chance in a different area. The only reason they did – is because they were always losers! If they did not have the pressure of being losers, they would have never tried so hard to be successful and eventually turn the tables on the previous winners.
We remember stars, e.g Bruce Fordyce won the Comrades Marathon nine times [any idea who came second in the nine races?] The All Blacks won the rugby world cup in 1987 [who was the runner up?] and Pakistan won the 1992 Cricket world cup [who did they play in the final?]. Exactly my point! We only remember the winners and then you want to tell me that we should be happy to be average.
How many times have I heard people say about our national sports teams that they played very well although they lost? I hear that we should be proud of their performance on the field as they were inspirational in the way that they played. They were an example to all students of the game, etc. Fact: THEY LOST. THEY ARE LOSERS!!!! Why do I have to accept it?
When I was young, it was all about competition. It was a race to the line in everything we did. From having the highest marks in a test to playing for the school’s team to scoring the most points in sports event. We would see who could run the fastest, jump the furthest, fart the loudest, pee the longest, tread water the longest, and so on. It was absolutely all about competition and we did everything in our power win, to be the best. If you were not on top, you tried hard to outsmart your opponent or at least him in something else so that the score could be one all. That taught us to fight for the top and strive to be on top as there was an acknowledgement and acceptance of winners. It was every kids dream to make it to the top.
Now we changed it around. We still let the kids play, but praise them if they don’t win and tell them it is great to end in the middle or loose, as long as you enjoyed it. We also look down on the winners as it is not cool to beat other kids as they may be from underprivileged backgrounds or do not have a stable home environment like you. If they win, it proves that they would have been great if they had the same opportunities as you! To be mediocre is fine, to win bad. That is the message we are now trying to give our kids, our leaders of the future.
This is not something that changed suddenly; I have been seeing it happening over a few years. In the line of business I am, I used to have a number of new employees every year that were fresh out of school. I was in this position for about four years and I could see the standards of them drop every year. It is really slow poison that started many years ago and is now finally reaching its climax. We now have a bunch of losers that enter the market and then we wonder why they do not perform in the real world.
The reality is that when they enter the real word it is all about competition. The top salesman gets the good commission; the hard working employee gets the rewards, etc. We have now taken a generation to teach our kids at school that it is OK to be half useless and praise them for participation – just to nail them when they enter the real world, because they are not performing up to the required standards!
Maybe it is about time we relook all these things we do to be “nice” and get real.
There is only one person in the world that says we are all winners. The other variation on the theme is that he only plays for the fun or that he is only a social sportsman, etc. Yes, you guessed it – he/she/they are all losers! We have changed into a society that accepts average people as a rule. We are no longer striving to success.
It is all very nice and wonderful as we now suddenly don’t have to apply any pressure to our school children as it is ok to be part of the group. We do not acknowledge the fact that one is better that the other. That one is a winner and one is a loser. Suddenly you will get emotionally scarred if you don’t win! I have been around the block and I promise you that I do not see thousands of people with major complexities in their life just because they were losers at school. If fact, there are some of them that has really excelled when they got a chance in a different area. The only reason they did – is because they were always losers! If they did not have the pressure of being losers, they would have never tried so hard to be successful and eventually turn the tables on the previous winners.
We remember stars, e.g Bruce Fordyce won the Comrades Marathon nine times [any idea who came second in the nine races?] The All Blacks won the rugby world cup in 1987 [who was the runner up?] and Pakistan won the 1992 Cricket world cup [who did they play in the final?]. Exactly my point! We only remember the winners and then you want to tell me that we should be happy to be average.
How many times have I heard people say about our national sports teams that they played very well although they lost? I hear that we should be proud of their performance on the field as they were inspirational in the way that they played. They were an example to all students of the game, etc. Fact: THEY LOST. THEY ARE LOSERS!!!! Why do I have to accept it?
When I was young, it was all about competition. It was a race to the line in everything we did. From having the highest marks in a test to playing for the school’s team to scoring the most points in sports event. We would see who could run the fastest, jump the furthest, fart the loudest, pee the longest, tread water the longest, and so on. It was absolutely all about competition and we did everything in our power win, to be the best. If you were not on top, you tried hard to outsmart your opponent or at least him in something else so that the score could be one all. That taught us to fight for the top and strive to be on top as there was an acknowledgement and acceptance of winners. It was every kids dream to make it to the top.
Now we changed it around. We still let the kids play, but praise them if they don’t win and tell them it is great to end in the middle or loose, as long as you enjoyed it. We also look down on the winners as it is not cool to beat other kids as they may be from underprivileged backgrounds or do not have a stable home environment like you. If they win, it proves that they would have been great if they had the same opportunities as you! To be mediocre is fine, to win bad. That is the message we are now trying to give our kids, our leaders of the future.
This is not something that changed suddenly; I have been seeing it happening over a few years. In the line of business I am, I used to have a number of new employees every year that were fresh out of school. I was in this position for about four years and I could see the standards of them drop every year. It is really slow poison that started many years ago and is now finally reaching its climax. We now have a bunch of losers that enter the market and then we wonder why they do not perform in the real world.
The reality is that when they enter the real word it is all about competition. The top salesman gets the good commission; the hard working employee gets the rewards, etc. We have now taken a generation to teach our kids at school that it is OK to be half useless and praise them for participation – just to nail them when they enter the real world, because they are not performing up to the required standards!
Maybe it is about time we relook all these things we do to be “nice” and get real.
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