Meditations – in Writing

I’ve decided I’m going to start doing something new. I don’t know how often I’ll do it or how often I’ll post something for it, but it’ll happen when it happens. My mother recently gave me a book of quotes from great leaders. I read it, all of it. The idea is I’ll pick a quote – mostly at random – and do a critical thinking activity on it. Though, sometimes I might pick something else, like a song or a picture.

“One loss is good for the soul. Too many losses are not good for the coach.” Knute Rockne

I’m going to focus more on the first part of the quote than the second. For a bit of background, Knute Rockne immigrated to the US at the end of the 1800s, studied chemistry at Notre Dame and later became an instructor. He went on to become the head coach and won 105 games, lost 12, and tied 5. An impressive record to say the least.

In the movie Patton, starring George C. Scott, he gives a motivational speech in front of the US flag, presumably to an assembly of troops. He says Americans love to win – love winners and hate losers. Patton hated losing – hated holding back or coming in second. I think most people hate to lose. It is part of our nature. Survival is a competition. Only the fastest, smartest, or strongest will survive and they pass those traits to their young, along with their knowledge.

I think the purpose of the quote is to remind people to be humble and be a good sport when things don’t go well. Winning is great. Winning feels great. Sometimes our success and the high of it makes us conceited. Our egos become inflated and we think ourselves invincible. That is usually when we see some take a fall. Some people never recover – never bounce back. There are many other quotes about the true measure of success being in how quickly someone gets up again. Failure and defeat are only temporary set backs meant to teach us how to move forward.

I think that is something society is losing touch with. Everyone is so focused on winning or being first or perfect or right we don’t know how to handle failure and set backs. Instead we see things like “no child left behind” and “everyone’s a winner.” By taking away the “loss” and the “loser” in the equation we set ourselves up to stagnate. We say, “this is good enough,” and never try for better. When we struggle – when we lose it should give us the goal to be better.