“We are the champion – my friend,
And we’ll keep on fighting – till the end,
We are the champions,
We are the champions,
No time for losers,
Cause we are the champions – of the world.”
When you listen to this song, what first comes to your mind? Do you feel like a champion holding trophy on a stage? Is it everything for you? Is it really necessary to win? From the article “Winning Isn’t Everything” written by Pete Hamill, an American coach, Vince Lombardi once said “Winning isn’t everything, but the will to win is everything”. When you read the quote, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Do you think that the quote is eloquent or merely useless to people? Perhaps some people in the world might agree with the former and some might agree with the latter. For me, the quote is really meaningful as it is a motivation for me to improve myself and to be a better person. From the article, I agree that winning is not everything because the process to reach victory is the thing that helps me to develop my characters, winning is nothing without struggle and winning sometimes inhibits other winnings.
First of all, from the article, I found that the process is the thing that helps me to develop my characters. Pete Hamill told us about competition. He said that “Competition isn’t really a problem for Americans. All sports, in one way or another, are competitive. But an individual’s primary competition is with himself and all his attendant weaknesses” and “The problem isn’t competition, which is a part of life; it is in the notion of the necessity of triumph. A man can lose but still win. And the point of competition in sports is an old and not very fashionable one: It builds character”. It is very true what the writer had said in the article because I think that people can win at certain times and sometimes they can lose. Nevertheless, for me, the most important thing is how people confront the obstacles. Triumph or defeat is common among people because it’s merely the rule in any form of competition. The real competition is the competition within ourselves to overcome our weaknesses. For instance, during my high school years, I failed in my studies due to my active participation in sports. Even though I got bad results in my examination, I tried hard and was determined to overcome the problem. I reduced my involvement in sports, gave serious attention and focus on my studies. It indirectly built a better character in me where I tried to figure out my weaknesses and overcame them. On the other hand, from my failure, I realized that it is just a part of life. The failure motivated me to rebuild my character. In that situation, I managed to summon my strength to overcome my shyness so that I was brave enough to discuss my problems with my colleagues. Then, I started asking them if they were free, asking them to assist me in my studies. If this did not happen I would be very reluctant to consult and discuss my problems in studies with my friends. Even sometimes, my friends came to see me to ask some questions. By teaching them, I indirectly understood what I had learned, making my knowledge and understanding on that particular topic better. Simply said, the failure really helped me to develop my character as well as made me become a better person in my life as a student. In short, the real competition is the competition within ourselves and failure is not the biggest problem in our lives.
Another significance of the quote, “Winning isn’t everything” is winning is nothing without struggle. From the article, the writer tells that “The true athlete teaches us that winning isn’t everything, but struggle is – the struggle to simply get up in the morning or to see hope through the minefields of despair. Viewed that way, a marriage, or any relationship with another human being, is an ongoing struggle”. We know that from the article, the life is a series of struggles, not one gigantic effort. To struggle is the essence of everything because to win a game, to succeed in a job, to improve our lives, we need to struggle and put in a vast amount effort. Likewise our relationships with other human beings such as in marriage and friendships all require efforts and struggle. For me, struggling is a continuing process because in this real realm, there are too many challenges to face; so struggle is the only method to overcome this problem. For instance, ever since I was a small child, I had to cry to ask for food and up until now, I certainly ought to struggle to get my meal; I cannot just hope or cry for the food to come and then suddenly out of nowhere my food will just fell from the sky? Other than that, I also need to struggle in order to achieve the best grades in my studies and even to get a better position in my career in future. Clearly, we can see that struggling is a continuous process that people will go through.
Apart from that, one victory sometimes inhibits other victories. From Pete’s article, I discovered that the writer said “Winning isn’t ‘the only thing.’ Such an idea muddles the idea of competition, not simply in sports, but in all aspects of our lives. We’ve learned the hard way in this century that the world is a complex place; it’s certainly not the National Football League. Winning isn’t the only thing in love, art, marriage, commerce, or politics; it’s not even the only thing in sport.” I agree with the quote in Hamill’s piece by Vince Lombardi because it relates to my own experience. When I was in primary school, I had always won the athletic events I participated in. In standard six, I had won three gold medals out of four events with new records and I was also declared the best athlete in my district. This continued until up my boarding school years. The successes have cost me my studies. I had thought that I could always be the winner either in sports or studies, but I was wrong. It was my fault for not giving serious attention in my academic achievements. I had often spent my time doing sport practices rather than using the time to study. I was very disappointed with my bad time management. In short, it is true what the writer said in the article that winning isn’t the only thing.
In conclusion, it is true that the quote by Vince Lombardi in Pete Hamill’s article, “Winning isn’t everything, but the will to win is the only thing”. Although the article seems to demean people, but at the same time it assists people to realize the reality of life in the world. In my view, I really agree with the contents of the article. Moreover, it is related to my own life. As a determined civilian, we should aim high to be the authentic winner. Lastly, I hope the article will motivate other readers as it is a real problem related to their lives as they had done to mine.
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