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Topic: Failure (03/01/04)
TITLE: Never A Loser By Tony Washington 03/04/04 |
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By definition for you to be a loser implies that you have never, ever won anything or been successful at anything. Now come on, never won anything, never been successful at anything? Forgive me, but you learned to walk didn’t you? You learned to use a knife and fork didn’t you? Maybe that’s insulting to you, but the point is that every one of us has been successful at something. So where does that thought come from? That may be hard to define, but I know one thing, it doesn’t come from God! As humans we have developed an uncanny gift called generalization. We generalize everything, don’t we? We classify people by race, by economic status, by where they live. We have children and say things like, “he’s my smart one”, or “she’s my sensitive one.” Based on? Sure there’s some evidence to support it, but does that mean my other children aren’t smart or sensitive. Generalization is the problem. It’s like our brains say, “quick put that data into a category and file it!” My daughter (my organized one-just kidding) used to call me a “loser.” You know what I mean. She would hold her hands in the familiar L-shaped loser symbol and beckon – LOSER! Bless her heart she didn’t mean it, but you know full well that if you really think of yourself as a loser, someone else loaned you that idea. You didn’t come from the factory that way. Your capacity to win in life is equal to mine. For, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Your talents will be different from mine (assumption being that I do have some talent) but they are there for you nonetheless. It is your job to discover what they are, or, compliments of Dr. Stephen Covey, “your inner voice.” Maybe another example will make this point clear. In professional baseball if your batting average was 350, we would say that you were a tremendous hitter. But do you realize that batting averages are based on a 1000 point percentage? Now stay with me here – an excellent batter at the highest level doesn’t get a hit in 650 times at bat out of 1000 attempts. Loser? I think not! It’s all in your perspective. Loser logic is not logical. The media has to take some of the blame here. You are fed these images of what a winner looks like, you naturally don’t measure up, and so you accept the idea that you are a loser. Wrong car, wrong house, wrong income, wrong wife, wrong kids and so on. But stop for a minute and ask yourself a question – wrong according to whom?
Okay now let’s talk about winners. What is a winner? Again, on the surface you have to say that a winner is a person that always wins. Now come on, always? Is it someone that wins every contest, every game, and every challenge that comes along? I seriously doubt that. You see, you have to challenge the logic of wrong thoughts. Not every good deal is a good deal. The used car market would attest to that. My first car was an absolute lemon. My Dad warned me that it was no good, but everyone knows that eighteen year olds are unsurpassed in intelligence. A short time later the car I purchased for $825 was sold for $100. Engine gone, transmission gone, shell remaining! The sale was a good deal for the car salesman, but not a good deal for me. Win-lose, not win-win. At times people appear to win but really lose. The person who is rich, but got that way through dishonesty will eventually pay the price for the break in principle. However, in the world’s eye he may be deemed a “winner.” I would define a winner as one who does his best to think thoughts that winners think with the firm conviction that, with God’s help, he will win the contests that really matter.
You are not a loser!