Can you give me a reason... why you making me work so hard?
Now, if you're at all aware of both my birth locale, my interest in sports, and where my political leanings of late are, you know that I've recently had a fairly good week. Namely, the Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series, followed six days later by Barack Obama winning the presidency.
This is a bit of a shift for me; my sports teams last won in 1983 (the Sixers), when I was only 4. And I had never voted for the winner in a presidential election before (admittedly in part because I voted third party before... and before I get any complaints about costing the Democrats either election, keep in mind that I voted in Massachusetts, which went to the Democrat each time - I cost nobody anything).
Anyhow, all things told, I'm fairly new at backing a winner. But I did learn something, in part carried over from all those years of not backing winners:
Win or lose, do so with grace and dignity.
Now, I'm willing to admit that the latter hasn't always been something I was or current am good at (my reaction to the Phillies winning was literally me collapsing on the couch, tears running down my face, silently grinning, and wondering to myself if I somehow landed in an alternate dimension). But the former, I think, is something we can all manage.
Of course, this has been far from the case. For as many times as I've seen fellow Obama supporters merely smile and say "Yes, we did", I've seen just as many gloat over Republicans about the "death of an infantile philosophy." For as many times as I've seen McCain's supporters show the same class that McCain himself did in his concession speech, I've seen just as many question the patriotism, intelligence, and such of the Democrats.
Beyond being counterproductive, that kind of negative behavior is radicalizing and often relies on half-truths which end up reinforcing terrible half-truths the other side uses.
I'm not asking for much - just think things a bit through, and show some class. I know for a fact that you can take joy in victory without lording it over those that didn't win. And if anyone knows that you can be upset with a loss but still give the winners their due, it's me. I know it's unlikely to change anything, but let's give it a try.
This is a bit of a shift for me; my sports teams last won in 1983 (the Sixers), when I was only 4. And I had never voted for the winner in a presidential election before (admittedly in part because I voted third party before... and before I get any complaints about costing the Democrats either election, keep in mind that I voted in Massachusetts, which went to the Democrat each time - I cost nobody anything).
Anyhow, all things told, I'm fairly new at backing a winner. But I did learn something, in part carried over from all those years of not backing winners:
Win or lose, do so with grace and dignity.
Now, I'm willing to admit that the latter hasn't always been something I was or current am good at (my reaction to the Phillies winning was literally me collapsing on the couch, tears running down my face, silently grinning, and wondering to myself if I somehow landed in an alternate dimension). But the former, I think, is something we can all manage.
Of course, this has been far from the case. For as many times as I've seen fellow Obama supporters merely smile and say "Yes, we did", I've seen just as many gloat over Republicans about the "death of an infantile philosophy." For as many times as I've seen McCain's supporters show the same class that McCain himself did in his concession speech, I've seen just as many question the patriotism, intelligence, and such of the Democrats.
Beyond being counterproductive, that kind of negative behavior is radicalizing and often relies on half-truths which end up reinforcing terrible half-truths the other side uses.
I'm not asking for much - just think things a bit through, and show some class. I know for a fact that you can take joy in victory without lording it over those that didn't win. And if anyone knows that you can be upset with a loss but still give the winners their due, it's me. I know it's unlikely to change anything, but let's give it a try.