WINNING IS NOT EVERYTHING: LIFE HAS A BROADER OBJECTIVE

Undoubtedly, winning makes us happy, confident, and popular. Winning is the ultimate goal in every sphere of life for common people, sportspeople, professionals, politicians, and everyone wakes up in the morning with a determination to win in their respective jobs. Every one of us dreams of doing something big in life that we relate to winning. Winning is synonymous with success to us. But, Dr. Pratibha Sharma asks, “Iswinning everything?” She asks us to pay attention to the broader objective of life that is not restricted to winning alone. Indeed winning is not everything.

The amazing story of Lawrence Lemieux            

The famous Canadian sailor Lawrence Lemieux who was the top contender for the gold medal in his genre in 1988 sacrificed his medal for the sake of humanity. The amazing story of Lawrence Lemieux fascinates us even today. What happened on that day? Lawrence was made his way smoothly through the tossing sea waves off the coast of Seoul, South Korea. He was in the second position in that competition when he saw near to him a capsized vessel with only two crew members visible. The crew members of the capsized were almost drowning. In that condition when the winning medal was almost in the clasp Lawrence did something different that made history. In the heat of the competition, most competitors forget everything but the target and medal. Lawrence Lemieux forgot his medal for the time being and rescued the crew members. He lost the competition but won the heart of millions of his followers around the globe. He made his country, family, and coach proud. Later, the Olympic Committee awarded him more prestigious “the International Olympic Committee’s Pierre de Coubertin Medal for true sportsmanship” which was the award only 20 sports personalities have won so far in Olympic history.

According to Dr. Pratibha Sharma, Lawrence Lemieux has proved that winning is not everything. Winning is just a part of our life. Life is much bigger and broader than winning a few competitions. Being human, showing humanity is much important than winning medals or awards. This is high time that people understand this very basic aspect of life.

Winning doesn’t guarantee happiness

We must go beyond winning. There is much more in this world than materialistic achievements. We must not stick to our win and loss, success and failure, or pass and fail. Failure and success are an integral part of everyone’s life. Winning or losing is not important, personal excellence is more important than a certificate, medal, or award. Even after practicing for days and months, some sportsmen fail or some students couldn’t score as per their expectations. Scientists go on trying and trying only to find what is right or wrong. Winning is not an end but the beginning of another journey so also losing. As a human, how much do you evolve with experience matters the most!