..winners and losers..

It’s no fun to lose. We want our team to be the winner.

July 27, 2007 (Friday) – Today is Bugs Bunny’s birthday. He is 67 years old today. The tricky rabbit was always giving Elmer Fudd and others a hard time. In almost every cartoon, he came out the winner and his opponent lost. His creators believed in “winners” and “losers.”
It’s no fun to lose. We want our team to be the winner. We love the line from a poem by Grantland Rice, “For when the One Great Scorer comes to write against your name, He marks – not that you won or lost – but how you played the Game.” As I said, we love the poetry because it expresses a beautiful sentiment, but, to be honest, we hate losing. It does matter to us if we’ve won or lost. We hate losing.
Consequently, a few decades ago, the psychologists and social scientists came up with a “win-win” strategy to replace the familiar “win-lose” methods. Long before that, however, there was Dale Carnegie.
Dale Carnegie wrote a book entitled, “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” in which he suggested some common sense ways to have a more productive and happier life by treating people with respect.
One of his suggestions was, “Let the other person save face.” Gloating and “rubbing it in” when you have succeeded in having your way is always counter-productive, because your opponent lives to fight another day, and he lives for the day he can pay you back in kind for what you have done to him.
Another of Carnegie’s ideas was, “Try honestly to see things from the other person’s point of view.” If your negotiations can allow the other party to be right about some things, he may show you the same courtesy, and you may reach an agreement in which you both “win.” That leaves the door open for working together in the future.
Jesus gave us some practical instructions along this line. He said, “..Say you’re out on the street and an old enemy accosts you. Don’t lose a minute. Make the first move; make things right with him. After all, if you leave the first move to him, knowing his track record, you’re likely to end up in court, maybe even jail. If that happens, you won’t get out without a stiff fine (Matthew 5:25-26 The Message).”
You probably have a score to settle with somebody. Most people do. How about it? Are you just out to win? Must the other person lose? Here’s how Jesus says to handle it: “If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that. In a word, what I’m saying is, Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you (Matthew 5:46-48 The Message).”