WHAT IF EVERYBODY COULD WIN?
By Jim Davis

It wouldn’t ordinarily make for a very good football game. Or any kind of game for that matter. Games are supposed to have winners and losers, except when there’s a tie. And ties are so unpopular that most sports have rules that eliminate ending in a tie. Unfortunately, we often forget that life is not a game. It’s much, much more. And, many times everybody can win.

A few years ago at one of the many Special Olympics events that are held all over the country, a group of Special Olympics athletes showed what this means.

There were about ten or twelve kids in the race. They were excited. They lined up waiting for the starting gun. At the sound of the gun they were off and running.

But, then one of them stumbled and fell.

That’s when all of the “normal” spectators, coaches, and officials got a lesson they’ll never forget. All of the other racers stopped, turned around and went back to the fallen “competitor.” They helped him to his feet, and then the entire group linked their arms and proceeded to the finish line – each as happy as if they had won. And, they had.

You don’t have to be a Special Olympics Athlete to enjoy this kind of success. Anyone can do it. It just takes a change of attitude for some of us. The late, great country humorist Jerry Clower had a plaque on the wall of his office that we all can learn from. It read, “There is no limit to what can be accomplished if it doesn’t matter who gets the credit.”

The next time you find yourself in a disagreement or a dispute with someone – a family member, a coworker, whoever – try this. It really works. Instead of trying to “win,” try to isolate the “problem” that is causing the trouble. Put your efforts on ways to deal with the problem and try to get the others who are involved in the conflict to do that, too. Once the problem becomes the adversary, everyone else may find that they are on the same “side.” Then, when the problem is solved, everybody truly does win.