Thinking Out Loud, Volume DXIV

I almost won the 2002 Chicago Marathon. As a matter of fact, the ONLY thing that kept me from winning is the fact that there were 21,476 people who finished ahead of me. But really, if they want to be fair about it, I should receive a first place trophy and some cash just like the real winner did, because the odds were stacked against me, making it practically impossible for me to come in first. For example, the 26.2 miles I had to run is a long way. I mean, how could they expect me to finish in less time than I did considering the distance I had to run....especially with that climb I had to make when I was crossing that bridge. Not only that, but there were 40,000 runners participating in that race, and, well, have you ever been in a crowd that big? It's hard to get around with that many people trying to do the same thing I'm doing. Another thing that put me at a disadvantage was my size. If the real winner had been as big as I was, he would've run slow just like I did. Yep, considering the circumstances, I should've been treated with just as much dignity and respect as he received. Let's take a look at the winner so you can see why it was so much easier for him. First of all, where I had all those people finishing ahead of me, he had no one coming in ahead of him and getting in HIS way. Can it be considered fair when the only reason he finished first was because he ran faster than anyone else? And where I had to run 26.2 miles, he.....well, okay, he ran the same distance, so we'll give him that. Oh yeah, and since he ran the exact same route I ran, he had to cross that same bridge, so I guess I'll give him that as well. But what about the fact that he's skinnier than me? Since I didn't follow that strict diet he followed, I had a little more meat on my bones, but you see, it's a real sacrifice having to do without all those cookies I like to eat right before bedtime. Okay, so he sacrificed when I didn't, but sacrificing is hard for me and it's just not fair to expect me to have to do it. I also hope you recognized the fact that I'm being sarcastic. Why do we sometimes look at others and just assume they have life easier than we do? We think they just breeze through life while we have to struggle, and that's not fair. Sometimes we think we should get paid just as much as our boss, yet we don't stop to consider that he risked his own money to get the business going, and we have no idea how much stress he deals with trying to keep his business, and our jobs, afloat. The doctor, who sacrificed years of his or her life going to medical school, deserves a higher income than those of us who didn't pay that price. Have you ever heard someone say something like, "I hate skinny people like her. It's not fair that clothes look so much better on her than they do on me." Maybe we should consider the price she has to pay to look like she does. Then the question comes up about the kids born to wealthy parents. There again, someone sacrificed so their kids could have a better life. The biggest factor in the greatness of our nation is the fact that so many people are willing to make sacrifices so they can have a better life. That is how wealth is created, and it in turn spills over to the rest of us. Nothing is free! Everything costs somebody something. There is a dangerous trend in our country today where more and more people think it's unfair for anyone to achieve more than someone else. There are those who believe the government should take from those who have sacrificed and give it to those who haven't, making everyone equal. The problem with that theory is that if the person who sacrifices has to settle for the same compensation as the ones who don't, the incentive to sacrifice is removed, and when the incentive to sacrifice is removed, eventually there will no longer be anyone who will be willing to sacrifice, causing all of us to be equally poor, and the wealthy who have been supplying the needs of everyone else will also be poor, causing the nation to collapse under its own weight. If everyone running the marathon gets the winners purse and trophy, there will no longer be a reason to put in the extra effort to win, and we'll all be moving slow. When hard work and sacrifice lose their reward, we'll all become lazy losers. Preston