Thoughts on Losing

Losing is tough. No one likes to lose. My daughter's softball team was eliminated from the state tournament. They should have won it all, if not come in second. They had a good team from top to bottom. When they were eliminated by one run, it was a crushing defeat.

Losing, though, offers more life lessons than winning. There are more losers in life than winners. Most professional sports leagues have about thirty teams, but there is only one winner at the end of the season.

I remember one little league season many years ago when I was on the Dodgers. We were awesome. We ran the table undefeated. We entered the tournament at the end of the season riding high. In the semi-final game, we lost. Our only loss of the season came one game shy of the championship game. As we came to the dugout, we all threw our gloves down. It was painful. It hurt, but I learned a lot from that game.

We do not always get what we want. We do not always come out on top. We try our best, and give our best effort.

Life is not all about winning. It's about learning from the many defeats, and getting up and trying again.