When Everyone's a Winner Are We All Losers?

I have had something stuck in my craw for a few days and it isn't the fact that using a phrase like stuck in my craw makes me sound like an 80 year old, when I'm still in my 30's.. No instead it was something that happened at a job last week. There was a few people racing to see who could do the most transactions. Well one person came in saying they did only 82 or so transactions, but that was good enough to beat everyone else. Well before long feelings were hurt and because the person used the word ONLY. Well truth be told the 82 transactions was a low total for this person. The real problem I had was why the others took objection to the high achiever, have we become that soft as a society?

There used to be a time when we celebrated the best and brightest. We looked up to them and said one day maybe I'll be that good. Now we seem to encourage average so that nobody has their feelings hurt. I see it the way we run organized sports for kids. Some leagues don't keep score and aren't anything more than kids herded into one area to run around aimlessly. Sports are there, in part, to learn life lessons and how can a child learn how to lose with dignity if there isn't a cut and dried winner and loser. We are so busy trying to make everyone feel good about themselves that when these kids hit the real world they will be eaten alive.

Now don't get me wrong everyone deserves a chance to play, as long as they are willing to put in the effort. Little Jimmy that sits in right field picking flowers and eating a Twinkie shouldn't be awarded the same ribbon as little Suzie, who started off afraid of the baseball, but has busted her tail all season to become the best she can be. I'm not sure when we started coddling everyone, but this politically correct stuff has gone too far. When I was a kid my brothers and sisters never let me win a game and I am thankful for that. I learned how to lose with class and when I won it felt even better after all those losses. I am to this day a very competitive person and I wouldn't want it any other way. Good lessons can come out of losing and I for one think we are doing our kids a disservice when we pretend everyone is a winner.