Throughout our lives, we all go through many different rites of passage. We learn to walk, we graduate from high school, we move out on our own, etc. What’s interesting is that with each of these transitions, they do not come without struggles and challenges. How many toddlers do you see who don’t fall down time after time when trying to increase their steps? What young adult aces every test and avoids any sort of social awkwardness during their school years? What newly-independent person immediately knows how to “adult” automatically? This is the very point of these life transitions.
You’re not born knowing know to automatically do everything; you have to figure things out over time. You try and fail or try and learn over and over again. Failure is just a part of this process. If you haven’t failed, you haven’t tried. We all wish we could learn things the easy way, but it’s the failures that teach us the greatest lessons.
Think of all the board games, go-fish matches, or rounds of tag you played as a kid. Surely you didn’t win every one of those. What did you learn from losing? – Humility, perseverance, grace. What did you learn from winning? – Empathy, strategy, teamwork. These shape you into who you become, and you grow because of them.
So what happens then if you lose without learning? What kind of person does that create? How would this person interact with those around them? How would they react to future losses? I would imagine they would blame others rather than taking responsibility for their own shortcomings. I would imagine they would feel the system is rigged against them. I would also imagine they would lash out at anyone or anything to save face.
If they would just see the power they’d hold in being gracious, they would realize that losing is simply an opportunity for growth. It furthermore provides the chance to teach others what valuable lessons you learned in the process. Being a sore loser serves no purpose, nor does being a sore winner.
Watching this play out on a national scale, when lives are literally dependent on the very act of being a good loser, is shameful, infuriating, and embarrassing. What makes it even worse is watching those who know better do nothing to set things right. I could understand if these were children in a schoolyard, but these are grown adults who must be held accountable. If you’re not prepared to lose, you have no business throwing your hat in the ring.
Thorny Issues 