You earn by lossing a game

My second child Eva Clarissa "Bambam," walked home sadly after school the other day. As she laid beside me on the bed, she told me she lost the "Damath" contest she joined this morning.

Damath is some kind of Filipino checkers integrated with numbers adopted by the Department of Education since it enhances mathematics ability among elementary and high school students. Bambam, being one of the best in mathematics among the Grade 6 class, represented the local Special Education (SPED) Center, believed to be the best primary school in the place. But she hadn't played the game seriously from Grades 1 to 5. Well, I don't want to make scapegoats for her being not prepared as others maybe like her too.

But my girl took the game seriously. Not only that the winner would have the chance to represent the province in the regional level, but also that the game carried a cash price. She even thought of buying a new cellular phone out of the possible winning. What made her frustrated was the fact that she lost three out of the eight matches which made her short of having the best wins.

The frustration was agravated by the fact that she asked me and her Mama to pray over her before the game. She believed she could have won by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, yet she failed despite it. I smiled secretly and told her, its not about winning but its the merit of having played and participated and the most important thing is learning how it feels to become a losser.

Yes, every person who suffered defeat in their lives could cherish the winnings more intensely in the future. They are the ones that could appreciate more the value of triumph. And they are those who are more sympathetic of the lossers.