A few days ago, a friend of mine informed me that his son’s baseball team had won a crucial game, advancing the team to a final game that would decide who would be first place in their division. I was very excited for them, and thought about rooting for his son’s team. That got me into a philosophical debate within my mind about winning and losing, and the implications of winning and losing on a child.After some thought, I decided to root for each individual kid. I realized that it didn’t matter who won or lost the game. The real winning and losing comes after the game is over. I realized that winners could lose, and losers could win, depending on how each reacted to the winning or losing. What would the win mean to the winner and the loss mean to the loser? What would each do with the win or the loss? How would it affect their attitudes about themselves and each other? How would they treat each other after the game? I just hope that each child will make the best of the experience, whether his team wins or loses the game. I’m rooting for all of them.
Sincerely,
Alan
