
Bitter Dregs of Defeat
there’ll always be
something left behind
there is no such thing
as a clean sweep
so why bother to being with
<>
take what you need
without worry
there are others
to look after the debris
the fallout
the bitter dregs of defeat
<>
don’t get me wrong
winning with a clean sweep
is good
but don’t mock the losers
even the bad losers
who think they should have won
though their score was lower
the problem was in the referees
in the score keepers the judges
not in them
<>
they aren’t going to
clean up after themselves
there are others
to look after the debris
commentators
salivating
to have their go at the mess
to reshape victory
into defeat
to shape defeat
into martyrdom
a meal fit for all
On a team competition show, in which the team members change each week, the clear winner’s team lost a challenge & his team members voted him off the game – strategy over-rode ability. He was not pleased & he became a rare sore loser & didn’t hold back his anger. Reality show editing limited our experience of his ‘dismay’ so I’m sure his language wasn’t polite on his exit.
I say ‘rare’ because usually eliminated contestants claim to be grateful for the opportunity, for learning so much – occasionally one with cry while trying to keep a brave face. As noted I’m also aware of how editing works & so we are only see what the producers want us to see. I for one would like see less gratitude & more spite.
In the circus of American politics we have been getting the full panoply of sore losers over the past couple of years. Losers who blame everything except their own behaviour for not being elected. But those are ‘public’ events – human behaviour changes when there are camera.
Losing at Monopoly in the privacy of ones home is a different sense of losing, right. I’ve never been a good game player because I don’t like defeat, really! I doubt if there is anyone who does, mind you. I feel a sense of disappointing in my sense of self if my plants don’t do well. I know I am powerless over the weather, over animals, bug, that feast on them overnight, But part of me feels I’ve let the plants down. I’m just grateful there’s no with an android phones filming me when ever I’m replanting what the skunks have dug up grubbing for grubs.
