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I must have had parents much like you Dinwiddie. I grew up in the area and my parents taught same lessons, if I didn't like something then do something about making a change then. I had a football coach when I was 10 and we had a pretty good team that year and we were feeling pretty cocky about ourselves the week of the biggest game of the year. We had beaten the team by whopping 6-0 score the first time and we were unbeaten having given up one TD in the 5 games we played. He asked us after practice what we would do if someone slapped us in the face or punched us in the gut. Our reply was to slap or punch back of course. He explained thats how the other team felt, thats what we did last time and they were going to be out to make amends. He also reminded us at this point they were the only thing standing between us and a perfect season and if we won Saturday their title hopes were all but over. Well needless to say we had a different attitude after that practice and come Saturday we scored 6-7 TD's of which only one was not called back and won again 6-0 but we left no doubt who was the better team. I have remembered that conversation and have used it from time to time during my 30+ years of coaching high school.I was taught at a very young age, that if I didn't like something, figure out a way to change it, or shut up and take it. I was loved, but not coddled. I was given guidance, but taught to think for myself. Which meant to decide if I was happy with my situation.
Guess what, when you get out in the real world, where everything is essentially a competition, you need these basic lessons to be successful. You compete everyday in life. You compete with others for jobs and promotions, you compete with yourself for motivation and to achieve a healthy lifestyle. You compete with others to woo a mate. And in every other aspect of life, to one extent or another, you are in a competition.
Essential to competing and winning is suffering loss. Whether it be losing a football game when you are five years old, losing out on that special mate, or maybe even losing your job because you didn't meet performance expectations. Each of these events molds you, and shapes you as a person. Remove loss from a person's life, and they have no motivation to compete. Protect them from suffering loss, and sentence them to a life of not knowing the satisfaction of achieving, and winning.
I thank God for giving my parents the wisdom to know that I needed to learn how to lose, as well as to learn how to compete and win.