Bittersweet Victory
I'm not about to turn this blog into a sports forum, although I easily could; just ask Heather. It could be done, but I'd incidentally begin phasing out my intellectually stimulated Grey Goose and Beringer clientele with the more robust plastic bottle Barton's and box wine variety, and no one needs Barton's, no one.
This afternoon I watched from a couch on the North Shore of Oahu, by myself at my buddies house as he surfed and enjoyed the heavenly water just outside the back door, the Alabama Crimson Tide embarrass the #5 Florida Gators.
Any of you that know me know my obsession with college football after being breed into the Alabama lineage during my first two years of school. It's a passion and you need to read Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer to even grasp at comprehension with this one, trust me. I've spent many a Saturdays alone on account of a nationally televised Bama game, and sometimes even stayed home just to catch a highlight reel, and I'm not a fanatic by any stretch in Bama terms.
My point. Alabama finally arrives as the dominant team I've always seen them as, and ESPN is talking national title chances, but it comes at a cost; it always comes at a cost. In the 4th quarter up 31-3 Bama looses its most dynamic player, a player who scored 2 TD's and played 5 different positions in today's game, and perhaps it's shot at the championship game in January. This victory quickly became bittersweet, overshadowed by the loss of the man who helped get us where we are and where we want to be.
Lying in bed, I soon came to the realization that most "victories" come at a price, bittersweet if you will, whether it's foreseeable or not.
Every victory has a bittersweet sensation at some level. Success can be weighed against the risks we take. Victory, however big or small, mental or physical, always comes at a price. Whether it be time, money, energy, sweat, or tears, we must put these things into the challenge to become victorious.
Taking a new career means leaving a vested profession behind, moving to a new city means leaving people behind, graduating college means, well, leaving college and entering reality, going to college means choosing one school over the other, Cookies and Cream means no Mint Chocolate Chip tonight; bittersweet.
I know I'm stretching the definition of the term, but thinking about the price we pay to attain success in our lives is a bittersweet one, with sacrifice so normal, we become numb to it. I don't know if this realization has helped me rationalize 'loss' or question 'victory', but it will help me sleep better knowing God's not on a personal crusade against the Crimson Tide.
This afternoon I watched from a couch on the North Shore of Oahu, by myself at my buddies house as he surfed and enjoyed the heavenly water just outside the back door, the Alabama Crimson Tide embarrass the #5 Florida Gators.
Any of you that know me know my obsession with college football after being breed into the Alabama lineage during my first two years of school. It's a passion and you need to read Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer to even grasp at comprehension with this one, trust me. I've spent many a Saturdays alone on account of a nationally televised Bama game, and sometimes even stayed home just to catch a highlight reel, and I'm not a fanatic by any stretch in Bama terms.
My point. Alabama finally arrives as the dominant team I've always seen them as, and ESPN is talking national title chances, but it comes at a cost; it always comes at a cost. In the 4th quarter up 31-3 Bama looses its most dynamic player, a player who scored 2 TD's and played 5 different positions in today's game, and perhaps it's shot at the championship game in January. This victory quickly became bittersweet, overshadowed by the loss of the man who helped get us where we are and where we want to be.
Lying in bed, I soon came to the realization that most "victories" come at a price, bittersweet if you will, whether it's foreseeable or not.
Every victory has a bittersweet sensation at some level. Success can be weighed against the risks we take. Victory, however big or small, mental or physical, always comes at a price. Whether it be time, money, energy, sweat, or tears, we must put these things into the challenge to become victorious.
Taking a new career means leaving a vested profession behind, moving to a new city means leaving people behind, graduating college means, well, leaving college and entering reality, going to college means choosing one school over the other, Cookies and Cream means no Mint Chocolate Chip tonight; bittersweet.
I know I'm stretching the definition of the term, but thinking about the price we pay to attain success in our lives is a bittersweet one, with sacrifice so normal, we become numb to it. I don't know if this realization has helped me rationalize 'loss' or question 'victory', but it will help me sleep better knowing God's not on a personal crusade against the Crimson Tide.
posted by Jonathan at 2:50 AM
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