Thursday, January 8, 2015

Respect for the Also-Ran's

Once, a very long time ago, I was "The Weakest Link." Allow me to take you back, all the way back to the turn of the century, 2001 to be exact. At this time there was a very popular game show on television called "The Weakest Link". It was hosted by a curt British woman named Anne Robinson. She was known for her harsh stares and directness, and for making contestants feel like dirt when they did not perform up to expectations. The idea of the game was that the contestants would build the jackpot together, answering questions, banking money in the kitty, and voting each other out of the game until one by one each of the contestants was eliminated save for one, and that person walked away with all of the money.

Early in 2001 the show was holding open auditions in cities across the country.  During this time I was producing a morning radio show in Dallas on 93.3 FM "Merge Radio" which before that was known as "The Zone", then afterwards "The Bone", then "I-93", and maybe a few dozen other names as well. Anyway, as a bit I auditioned along with the two hosts of the show, Tim and Yvonne.  The audition consisted of answering a few trivia questions, talking about yourself, and displaying interesting talents (Hellooooo Breakdancing!).
Yvonne received a call right away and was on the show soon after. As I recall she did well, finishing somewhere in the middle of the pack.  Months went by, I left the radio station, forgot all about the audition,  and then one day the phone rings and it's a producer from the show. They liked my audition, and want to fly me to LA to be on the show.

Cutting to the chase, I was terrible. I did not answer a single question correctly, I did not bank any money, and at the end of the first round I was voted the weakest link by every other contestant. Goodbye!

For a long time I looked at that as a defeat, a serious blow to my confidence. I had choked on national television. It all felt like failure, everything that I had been taught to believe about winning and losing told me that I was a loser.  Somewhere along the way, however, I began to realize something; what people saw on television was only part of the story.  Sure, I had blown it in that one round, and the fact that it was the first round was certainly a case of bad timing, but what was not seen was the victory that was getting on the show in the first place.  To become a contestant on "The Weakest Link", not only did I have to impress the producers in the Dallas audition, I had to be impressive enough to be chosen over people in Dallas, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and wherever else the auditions took place. Once you arrived in LA, they did not just slap some makeup on you and throw you on television. The producers brought more people to Los Angeles than they planned on using, so we had to play a "practice game",  a rehearsal if you will, only the people who made it through that simulation were chosen to be on the actual show.

Did I win any money? No. Did I get an all expenses paid trip to LA? Yes. Did I look silly on national television? Yes. Would I trade the experience? Absolutely not. Now I do not believe in the "every kid gets a trophy" approach that our culture currently embraces.  I think there are, and should be, winners and losers. I do believe, however, that we have too narrowly defined what a winner is.  We tend to see only the last man standing as the winner while giving no respect to the ones who gave everything they had, and fell just short.
People who do their best are winners.  People who don't give up are winners. People who overcome adversity and challenges and don't make excuses are winners.  We need more winners like this in the world, no matter where they might place in the race of life. Despite what society may say, no one who does these things is an also-ran.



 

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