The Kentucky Derby will soon be run. If our lives were governed by the philosophy of this horse race, the first three of us would finish in the money and the rest of us would be losers. I am thinking of a story. A group of 6-7 year olds were going to participate in a race. I forget how far they were to run, but it was more of a long dash than a sprint or marathon. About ¾ of the way through the race one child who was not in the lead, fell down. The others, all of the others, stopped. They gathered around the child, helped the child up and then formed a chain and as all were laughing they crossed the finish line together. Some parents celebrated with them; some were incensed that their child had not taken advantage of the situation and ‘WON’ the race.
For years I have been struggling myself with the difference between ‘competition’ – a few winners and many losers – and high achievement – measuring one’s self against one’s best efforts. True super stars in sports do this regularly; in fact they believe that in order to perform at a high level that their opponents must also do so and they actually help them improve [professional golfers, the great ones and even the good ones do this regularly].
Does it matter? You bet it does (keeping our horse-race metaphor). When winning becomes the ‘end game’ then, paradoxically, so does mediocrity. If I can’t win, why try? Each of us is given gifts, talents, and abilities that we are called to develop and use in response to needs that exist in our world. To ignore these, to not develop them, is to spit in the face of the creator. To suppress them in others is tyranny.
I am called to love my self and to love my neighbor as myself; if I don’t love my self I am not able to love my neighbor – then we both end up losers no matter what type of race we find ourselves in.
