Winners and losers
By Bill Shepard
This article has been on the back burner of my mind for a long time. I suppose I kept thinking it would go away and the need to write it would go away. Not that I think it will change anything but I bet there are a lot of folks reading this that feel as I do.
Bill Shepard
One of the ugliest contests for the President of the United States is over! The people listened and went to the voting booths and made their choice. That is the way it should be and always has been. The winner of the contest has been sworn in and has taken his seat. Is it not time for the bickering and blaming to end and for those elected to do the people’s business to go to work?
In every contest there is a winner and a loser! It is without question a better feeling to be a winner. I have been in a few contests in my life and I won a few and lost a few. Whether it was a game of marbles, played for keeps, or seeing who could sail his kite the highest, or run the fastest, the feeling of losing was always the same. After a few hours of licking my wounds, swallowing my pride, I would return to the game and play on.
I think that most would agree that America’s image around the world has been tarnished as well as here at home. After previous years of deadlock and infighting among politicians in Washington, the nation was in hopes of a new administration coming together and doing the work they were elected to do. Now it seems we are in for another four years or more of the same. The world is watching and what it is seeing is not pretty! In the eyes of some “the ugly duckling is getting uglier!”
I have seen a number of contests for the highest office in our land and in each one there was a winner and a loser, and yes, it was a painful experience for the loser. I recall hearing one loser speaker after being a loser. One could almost feel the pain in the loser’s voice as he spoke. Said Mr. Adlai Stevenson, “It hurts too bad to laugh and I am too old to cry.”
Good losers muster the strength to force a smile, even if through tears, and good winners show a bit of humility and graciousness toward their opponents. Remember, there will be another day!
One great general once said that the way to win against your enemy is to “close ranks and keep moving.” That might be good advice to be heard in America! We have enough enemies without; we don’t need any within! United we stand, divide we fall! It happened to every Democracy in our world’s history! Can history repeat itself? Time holds the answer to that question.
Win or lose…be a good American!
Mr. Shepard is a native of Darlington, S.C., and a current resident of Piedmont, S.C. He is the author of “Mill Town Boy” and “Bruised”. He has been sharing his tales of growing up in Darlington for decades, and we are delighted to share them each week. His mailing address for cards and letters is: Bill Shepard 324 Sunny Lane, Piedmont, S.C., 29673