You’ve probably heard the saying, “everyone’s a winner.”  A lot of people think that way.  The fact is, not everyone can win.   There will be winners and losers.   It’s not realistic that everyone can win.  Think of a sport.  You play all season and at the end, there are the playoffs and then the tournaments.  The purpose of the tournament is to see who is the best overall.  They become the winner.  Depending on the sport, the winning team gets an award or trophy.   Everyone else got the experience and fun of playing the sport.  But should they all get an award?

When I was in football and baseball, my teams didn’t win.  All the players still received trophies though.  The coaches even made a point saying they didn’t want to make anyone feel bad so gave everyone something.  It didn’t bother me that my team lost and I don’t think we deserved a trophy.  Another team won.  They deserved the trophy. 

I think people are too worried about hurting someone’s feelings.  Maybe if people realized that if you lose, you just have to try harder if you want to get that trophy, then they would be better off in the long run.

If people know they don’t have to try very hard and will still get rewarded, they’ll never really give it their all.   There is no sense of accomplishment for doing nothing versus someone who tried really hard and won.

My mom said she heard the other day that the Oscar Awards even changed their wording when someone wins.   They used to say, “And the winner is. . .”   Several years ago, they changed it to “And the award goes to. . . “    Apparently, nominees that didn’t win felt too much like losers.  Even adults who should know better still may not be able to handle “losing.” 

My school promotes this kind of thinking also.   They give out what I call “just breathing awards.”   It seems like you don’t even have to try to “get” something in return.  How does that teach anything in life?

So what’s the point?  Sometimes you’ll win and sometimes you’ll lose.  Life doesen’t always have to make everyone happy with the outcome.   My parents have taught me to try my best and if I win, that’s great.  If I lose, then I should realize I have to try harder next time if I want to win.

Let there be losers and let there be winners but everyone can’t win and it should be okay to say “you lost.”

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