“Congratulations on Your Failure” (Creating the Wimps of the Future)

After seeing this commercial one night I realized that while, yes, optimism is great, there’s a limit. I consider myself a realist; neither a pessimist nor an optimist. This commercial reminds me very much of the “participation trophies” that are handed out during every sport nowadays. Every kid receives one of these trophies no matter how hard he tried or much time he spent practicing. This sickens me. Why does the child putting forth an abysmal amount of effort deserve a trophy as if he won something? “Way to go kid, you came in last, but here’s a trophy.” This is only going to worsen the child’s attitude towards practicing. What’s his motivation for being the very best if he knows he’s going to be rewarded for no matter what he does in the end?

We are raising a generation of wimps. So many kids cry now when they don’t win, and you know what? THAT’S GOOD. Get me straight here: I get no enjoyment out of crying kids, but it is for their own good. Not everyone can win in life (hell, most people don’t), so a little bit of disappointment at an early age is healthy. In most people, failure creates a desire to want to be better. If we reward their failure, then why would they ever want to try harder and exert more effort? Babying kids now is just going to create more problems down the road. They won’t make every team they try out for. They won’t get an A on every test. They won’t get into every college they apply to, and they certainly won’t get every job they apply for. So why give them everything they want now and get their hopes up?

Competition is what fuels our passion to be the best. If it wasn’t for competition, we would be without many of the common day items that we use frequently. Look around you. Everything you see was created for a purpose or to fill a need. Someone put his time and effort into making that product, and do you think he was rewarded every time he failed? NO! Of course not! If he was, he wouldn’t have continued to perfect the product and you’d be staring at a half-broken piece of junk. He knew that if he didn’t get the job done, his boss would fire him and find someone who would. Competition drives the economy. Greed is a good thing. Only the strong and determined will prevail and this is a good thing. The only way to better ourselves as a country is to encourage competition. Life truly is about the “Survival of the Fittest.”

Doctor’s Orders: Competition drives every aspect of our lives. Rewarding kids for their failures or shortcomings is just going to make losing worse in the future. I say we get rid of the whole “Participation Trophy” idea and give only a trophy for first, second, and possibly even third place. Olympic contestants don’t get awards for coming in last, so why should we advocate this idea early on? What doesn’t kill us can only make us stronger, so why wouldn’t you want the kids of today (our future) to be strong?

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