Grateful Sunday

Again, I have to say that this "grateful Sunday" idea is borrowed from Farnsworth's Blog.

Today I am grateful for growing up in a time period where I learned that in competition there is a winner and a loser. I am grateful that I had parents who taught me that not everything in life is fair and that sometimes I will get the short end of the stick. I am grateful that I grew up in a time where not everything was handed to me just for being me, but rather I learned that if I wanted something I had to work for it. I am glad I learned as a youngster playing little league baseball, basketball, and football that the winners got trophy's and the losers...well...we didn't get trophy's...and that was okay.

I just watched a little clip tonight on the TV show 60 Minutes, that talked about the age group of America known as The Millenials. Many of you who are probably reading this right now fall under this age group, those born between 1980 and 1995ish. It was a pretty interesting piece altogether, and while I didn't agree with 100% of it, I had to chuckle when the reporter said that this generation is the generation that grew up with the philosophy of "blue ribbons for everyone", "everyone is a winner." This generation hasn't learned the meaning from their parents of the word "no" and have been given everything they ever wanted to them, now! You need to read, or watch, the 60 Minutes piece for more information on it.

The reason I am posting this is because it drives me nuts that there is this "blue ribbons for everyone" attitude out there. I don't understand how this can be healthy. Life is full of losers and winners. If you want to be a winner in real life you need to work hard for that and do what it takes to win. While it may be hard for a 5 year old to lose the game, and then watch the other team jump up for joy and be rewarded with trophies while they walk over to their orange slices and Capri Suns, at least the lesson is learned that not everything is given to them in life and that everything is always going to be good. Life isn't like that, and we shouldn't be doing our kids a disservice by giving them this false sense that life is fair for everyone. When they lose, pick em up, dust em off, and tell them that things will still be okay, winning isn't everything, but if you want to win next time then work harder for what you want!

By the way, lest you think I am going to be that obsessed little league dad on the sidelines who is always screaming at my kid to make them better, you are dead wrong. I am not advocating that winning is everything, in fact I don't really believe that. I am simply stating that it is just as important to learn that there are losers in life, and if you ever fall into that category, you need to learn how to deal with it. This is a very important "lesson" of life.