Winning. The Benefit of a Contrary Spirit.

SGHolland 2018

Competition: it puffs up and deflates, constantly. I think it’s breathing apparatus is the id and the arms and legs are extensions of the ego. Or something like that!

Who can resist a challenge?

Even if you are the three year old who is saying “NO” to your Mommy, there is a built in impudence that comes from somewhere in a wonderful human being.

I am again watching the Hays Pittsburgh Bald Eagles raise a family — only one eaglet this year. Such an education. It is my fifth year watching, and I am still learning new things every day — very often things that open my eyes to the wildness that exists just below the surface of our civilized human selves.

Why are we so contrary?

If we were not contrary, we might never have asked to come out of the womb!

Nor would we learn! We would be content with not being potty trained for all our lives and we would refuse to learn to swim. Neither of those ideas is at all appealing.

I do believe that we are in competition with ourselves before any other kind of competition, and the instinct comes from making comparisons. Humans measure! I’ll bet cave men measured. How big was that mammoth? Bigger than my dad’s?

You can see how normal it is to compete. Without competition we would all be either dead or nearly-dead little wimps with no muscles.

What does competition buy us other than strength and self-reliance?

Trouble, that’s what!

Finding the balance between striving and killing ourselves is tricky.

Napoleon was quite a guy. He didn’t quit even when he had delivered nearly every single man in his army into death’s door. He was such a winner, he was a loser!

Do we ever learn?

I think it depends on what we think of as proper pay for being bigger, better, tougher, scarier, more deadly.

Do we get admiration? Adulation? Fearful deference? Fawning dependents?
Frightened slaves?

Piles of awards? The applause of our peers? Pay for entertainment? Lots of media attention? A ton of money? A glamorous funeral?

Who is the real winner when the curtain comes down?

Will I be content with playing my part another day, or will I think I should die for the sake of winning today?

Just wondering…SGHolland 2018