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| American Flags |
The source of my rant is this. My 13 year old plays on his 8th grade football team. The team plays in a small independent league. There usually aren't organized football leagues on the state level below high school. My Son's team has done exceptionally well this year. So on this Saturday his team will host the first round of the league's playoffs. Well the opponent contacted my Son's coach and said under no circumstances will they show up. They know they can not win, so there's no point in coming. Are you kidding me? What lesson are we teaching the kids of the other team? Oh good job boys, you made the playoffs but you can't win so we just aren't even going to try! Really? If you can't promise my kid a trophy then I won't let him go. My older friends refer to this as, "the wussification of America". The philosophy that says, "you probably aren't good enough so don't even try". Just sit back and let someone else do it for you. What if my Grandfather and his friends in the South Pacific had that attitude in 1941? "Oh, those Japanese have really big battleships and they already beat us up at Pearl Harbor, so let's not even try". Really? What would this country look like it my Grandfather's generation had this wussified look on things? How far has this country fallen in two short generations?
This whole notion of there are can't be any winners because it makes the other people (the losers) feel bad, is just some mamby pamby garbage. If you have nothing to strive toward (winning) then we will all sit on the couch and become fat, lazy, apathetic, leaches of society. In order to succeed you must take the risk of failing. In order to win you must face losing head on. In order to do anything in this life you must try, and if you don't succeed you must try again, and if you don't succeed you must try again. The key is to try! Success does not come to those that wait or make excuses. Good things do not happen to those that have the easy outs in life. A strong America comes from hard work. A strong country comes from strong competition. It's time to stop giving out trophies to every kid just for showing up and start rewarding excellence again. Then, just maybe, we will have the intestinal fortitude to stand up and be called the greatest nation on earth again.
Rant over! For now!
+1ed this. Well done.
ReplyDeleteWow, I couldn't even imagine calling off a game because I didn't think I could win. Hasn't the coach ever heard of an upset? How awesome that would be if the other team DID win! (I mean no disrespect to your son's team.) Could you imagine what that would do for their self-esteem? I agree; this country is getting way too ridiculous about not competing. I am a 6th grade teacher, and I see it in my classroom all the time. It's about time we bring good old-fashioned values back to America!
ReplyDeleteKaren,
DeleteNo disrespect taken. That's what it's all about. Even though I'm proud of my boy's undefeated team, I believe they can learn more lessons from one loss than an entire undefeated season. But you can't learn anything if you don't put yourself out there.
Excellent article!!! I talk about this in my book: Raising Kids is Not Just Black & White. Only I refer to those parents as American Idol parents. This is the type of parent that puts their kid in a bubble and refuses to tell them that they are not good at something. They would rather put time, money, and resources into making them become a better singer than to actually tell their child that they just are not talented. These kids are absolutely SHOCKED when the judges tell them they have no talent. So their real talent goes unnoticed or to waste. I have 1 daughter that can't sing a lick (which she got from me..LOL), she knows it, we have told her that. She was not devastated by the news and she laughs about it. However, we didn't leave it at that because we have always told her what she IS good at and what her talents are and that's the areas where we focused our time, money, and resources. The wussifying you are talking about, I feel, stems from kids not being able to handle criticism, losing, negativity, etc. Keep up the good work, I'm looking forward to reading more of your articles!! :)
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