WINNING IN LOSING

Over the years we all have lost a lot of battles we had hope to have won. We lost because we were up against something or someone superior. We lost because we went into the battle unprepared. We lost because of events or situations that were out of our control and which got the upper hand. No one is a winner every time out. We are all losers in one way or another. That is a given.

And that is okay. In fact it is good. We learn, or should learn from our defeats. If or when we do not, we set ourselves up for more defeats, more failures and, I dare say, more pain and heartache. When I was growing up, I played Little League baseball for one year. I wasn’t very good even though I thought I wasn’t as bad as I really was. When I went out for a second year, I didn’t make the team. What was worse, my skinny little brother made his. I was devastated.

Losing, losing out, always hurts. If it does not, then there is something wrong with us. What I learned back then, even though it did take time for the pain to subside and the learning process to take in, is that I have to be honest with myself, as painful as that can be. Thinking I am better than I am, that I can do something I really cannot and should not do, only gets me into trouble. That does not mean that I have never put myself into a situation where I was in over my head. I am still learning the hard way.

Aren’t we all? We are in a situation right now in our country where we are losing a battle to an enemy that, presently, is more powerful than we are. Many don’t believe that, much to their pain and suffering and, for some, even their death. For whatever reason, we, as a country, are not getting a handle on this virus, and until we do, sadly and tragically, more and more will die.

We will eventually win this battle. We will overcome. But will we have learned anything from it? My old history professor had a favorite line after every war we studied: Status quo ante bellum.  In other words, nothing really changed after the battles were fought. We learned nothing. That’s why history repeats itself. We think, even believe, we won’t make the same mistake the second time around or that others made, but we do.

We are presently learning the hard way as we continue to lose this battle. When we eventually win it, the question will remain: Have we learned anything? The losing side in all those wars in the past could have been real winners if they had learned anything from their defeat. But, as history tells us, for the most part they did not. They believed they were the exception to the rule, like those who flaunt the CDC guidelines today.

As we struggle through the days and months ahead, we have the opportunity to reflect on what we are learning from this battle we are presently losing. Will we turn out as winners who learned from our losers who will make the same mistake somewhere down the line?