July 23 2012 When Some People Win, Must Others Lose, or are there Situations in Which Everyone Wins?

Most people would rather win than lose. Consider Olympic athletes. They would definitely choose first place instead of last. Winning offers a higher chance of respect and glory. However, when some people win, must others lose? Are there situations where everyone wins? I think there will always be winners and losers and there cannot be situations where everyone is able to win. I base this assertion on my own experience and on observations of people around me.

When I was four, winning was everything, including games I played in day care such as  the fastest girl to run. Whenever I lost, I would get angry and start ignoring everyone around me. My parents viewed this as a very bad habit and decided to address it, first telling me that the world didn’t always let one win but that through losing one might learn to do better. I really didn’t get what they meant back then and asked why someone had to lose in order for another person to win. Knowing that I couldn’t understand everything because I was four, they told me to go back to what I was doing. However, I just stood there thinking of situations where everyone was able to win. Unfortunately, nothing came to mind and when I think about it today, I come to the same conclusion, that there is no situation in which everyone wins.

As another example, in school one person is smartest. In companies, those with better project results have a higher chance of promotion than those who work hard but obtain poorer results. Also, we can be winners or losers in terms of appearance. In school, some one who most people like, tend to have more popularity than others.

In my opinion, every situation has winners and losers. However, not all become depressed or angry when they lose. Parents who love their children more than themselves exemplify this. If their child has a very successful career, they are very happy even though they aren’t the ones who were successful. Between parents and children, there are rarely winners and losers. Even though there might not be situations where everyone wins, it doesn’t mean that you should be sad.