The Agony of Defeat

"Happiness is a risk.  If you're not a little scared, then you're not doing it right."

- Sarah Addison Allen, "The Peach Keeper"

 

With the Winter Olympics on television this week I can't help but think of the opening scene from the "Wide World of Sports."  Every Saturday the weekly sports program would start with rousing Olympic music and the tag line, "The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat."

 

Everyone from my age group that had a TV probably remembers the image of the "agony of defeat."  The skier who comes of the end of the ramp and immediately crashes in what had to be one of the worst skiing accidents of his life.

 

Does anyone remember the "thrill of victory" person?  I've been searching my memory.  The agony of defeat is forever etched into my mind, but the thrill of victory?  To be honest I can't even remember what sport it was.

 

It really isn't surprising.  Being able to quickly identify a dangerous situation was more important from a survival perspective than the ability to quickly identify an advantageous one.

 

After all it takes just a few seconds for a tiger to eat you.  If you find some ripe apples on the tree it's still going to take time to climb the tree and get the apples.  And they will probably be there tomorrow.

 

Perhaps that is the source of our natural reluctance to take risks.  We are hard wired to be more responsive to danger than to reward.  The key then becomes how do we think about risk?  How do we use these big brains of ours to overcome our natural reluctance (avoid the tiger) and gain the maximum reward (get the apple)?

 

In today's world risk is usually not the immediate danger our ancestors faced.  To be sure an auto accident can ruin your life in the blink of an eye.  Yet the real risks in today's world take much longer to manifest themselves.  Cancer, heart disease, a bad hair day. 

 

We also need to recognize that we may fail and accept that.  In high school my drama teacher taught that successful actors have one thing in common, the willingness to make fools of themselves. In "Summertime" Australian author J. M. Coetzee writes, "Well, that is what you risk when you fall in love.  You risk losing your dignity."

 

Accept that you may fail, recognize that the tiger is out there and he is never going to completely disappear.  At the same time you need to be smart about how you take the risk.  Before you go after the apples take the meat out of your pockets.  Have a friend keeping an eye out for the tiger while you climb the tree.  If the tiger comes around run like heck and worry about the apples tomorrow.

 

Taking a risk doesn't mean being stupid.  It means accepting that you may fail, do what you can to improve your odds, and pressing forward.  Railroad pioneer Charles M. Hays said "'Safety first' is 'safety always.'"  But then, he perished on the Titanic.  That's the definition of irony.

 

You could decide to live the safe life. If you think that's going to work perhaps you're just fooling yourself.  You may stay in your little cave and feel safe, thinking the tiger can't get you.  You're forgetting some caves have a back entrance.  Or perhaps the bear in the back of the cave is about to wake up.

 

Life is full of risk.  Thinking you are safe is worse than taking foolish chances.  Going into any situation blind to the dangers is a sure way to get eaten by lions, tigers, and bears.  And tax collectors.  And predatory lenders.  And the common cold.  And bad drivers.  And politics.

 

Oh, and if you're wondering, the thrill of victory scene was changed frequently, there was no single image associated with it. 

 

The agony of defeat was Yugoslavian skier Vinko Bogataj.  His infamous fall was at the World Ski Flying Championship in Oberstdorf West Germany on March 21, 1970.  As bad as the fall looked on television, and Vinko admitted it was very painful, there were no serious injuries.

 

Although he is remembered for his spectacular fall, keep this in mind.  He was a world class athlete.  To get to that level he had to be one of the best.  He took risks and he had both failure and success. 

 

As the American theologian William G.T. Shedd wrote, "A ship is safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are for."

 

The safe life, an oxymoron if ever there was one.