Sue Staton

Arnold Schwarzenegger once said said, “Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.”

The agony of defeat is painful.

After the loss of the basketball game between Kentucky and Auburn I felt the pain of the loss, even though I wasn’t actually on the court.

Kentuckians love our Wildcats and expect them to be winners no matter what. When they lose, we feel as though we have lost something also.

When I heard Tyler Herro speak afterwards about how hard he and his teammates had worked this year and the disappointment he felt that they would not be making it to the Final Four, I could personally feel his agony of defeat.

After all, he and his teammates had defeated Auburn twice this year. It was not in the cards this year for them to defeat Auburn a third time.

It is rare that any team can win three games against the same team in the same year. This game, however, was the more important one to win.

I am sure they looked back as I did, thinking if they had just hit their free throws they could have handily won the game.

Looking back at what should have or could have been does no one any good, though. It only brings more pain.

I am still proud of the Kentucky Wildcats who bring me so much entertainment every basketball season.

For some reason, I could not help but think of all the good defeat can do for others.

I thought of Helen Keller and Albert Einstein.

With Helen Keller, I could not imagine how often and how much she felt defeat in her lifetime because she was deaf and blind, but yet she persevered to become something great.

She was the first deaf and blind person to ever earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. She became an author and her most noted work was “The Story of My Life,” which would later become a Hollywood movie. Throughout her life, she also was asked to speak and lecture at many events.

Einstein was considered a “a lazy dog” in school. He was said to have a learning disability. He was considered weak in math.

The world would learn it was only because his interest was more in physics.

Einstein would go on to be considered one of the smartest men on earth.

He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1921 with his works of the photo electricity effect.

He was noted for developing the equation of E=MC2, considered to be the most famous equation in the world and used to develop the atomic bomb.

Can you imagine what his teachers must have felt when they were to learn of all he would accomplish?

I have heard of NBA players who were often not picked for ball teams and those who did not make the team for sports who went on to become greats in their field.

Think of all the inventors who failed and failed and failed again but kept on perfecting their failures and never gave up.

One of the things that came to my mind was the airplane, which came to be because of two farm boys dreaming of flying in North Carolina.

On the other hand, I think of how some lose and give up on life and their dreams.

Who is to know which ones will persevere?

It is important for all of us to learn that defeat should not be a time to think little of ourselve, but to consider that we tried, we played the game and we did not give up on life.

Orville flew the successful flight since his brother Wilbur had failed in a previous attempt. Makes you wonder what if he had decided to not try either. Our lives would have definitely been different than they are today if all who tried and failed gave up.

Our lives are going to be full of mistakes. Either we learn from them and move on or we keep on repeating the same mistakes, never learning and eventually giving up.

Art Linkletter said, “Things work out best for the people who make the best out of how things turn out. “We all learn by losing.”

Sue Staton is a Clark County native who grew up in the Kiddville area. She is a wife, mother and grandmother who is active in her church, First United Methodist Church, and her homemakers group, Towne and Country Homemakers.