November
2006
This I Believe…
I believe that materialistic and monetary gains influence expectations. The more people gain, the more they expect. If people don’t gain as much, they lower their expectations, and if people gain too much, they tend to expect more. To illustrate an extreme example, compare the poor and the rich communities. There is a huge difference in expectations. Homeless people would be ecstatic if someone donated a dollar to them on the street, while accomplished rich people may become enraged (or at least baffled) if they don’t receive a Christmas bonus.
In many situations, people base their expectations on materialistic gains, universal scales of achievement, or objects of achievement, such as trophies. This is the wrong thing to do, because it can be detrimental to the purpose of doing something in the first place- for both people who are rewarded for their accomplishments and for people who unfortunately do not get rewarded for their hard work. People who work very hard to accomplish their goals, but never receive any recognition for it have a possibility of eventually becoming apathetic in continuing their ambitions. On the other hand, people who gain too many rewards for their achievements have the danger of losing sight of their initial reasons for their actions. I believe people should learn to ignore ornamental achievements (i.e. trophies), and just be happy when they know they’ve put in their best effort to achieve their goals.
I’ve been a gymnast for many years, and I know many people, gymnasts and parents, have a hunger for winning. For some, it was all about the “gold.” When I used to compete in artistic gymnastics meets, you would find that there were always the same girls standing on top of the award podium at the end of each competition. After a while, trophies weren’t really anything significant to the gymnasts who always won. It was kind of like just another accessory to add onto their dusty shelf at home.
The sad part is that since they had the reputation of winning, it often came true, even if there was someone more deserving of the first place spot. It didn’t happen often, but once in a while you would see a judge give a higher score to a girl who had the reputation of winning who made a mistake in her routine, than to a girl who had performed just as well a routine but given a much lower score. This can lower a gymnast’s confidence, and can eventually ruin a gymnast’s desire to keep pushing herself, if she never gets rewarded.
For some of the gymnasts who had a reputation for winning, winning became the most important part of the sport. Often this influence comes from the parents of these gymnasts, because since they maintain a high level of achievement over a while it starts becoming expected of these gymnasts. Most of the time it’s not intentional, it’s just a natural way to think when someone wins so much. Unfortunately, this can cause a gymnast to lose interest in the sport, as well, if the pressure to win distracts and overwhelms the gymnast’s passion for the sport.
I have to admit that my reasoning for retiring from artistic gymnastics was partially because I doubted that I’d be rewarded for my hard work. I’m not speaking trophy wise, but rather in a college scholarship. It wasn’t my only reason for retiring, however, because I had other substantial reasons, but it did influence my decision. I knew that the chances of getting a college scholarship in gymnastics were very slim, because there are so many talented girls competing for them, and many go unrewarded, but I knew my chances were even slimmer, because I wasn’t even a level 10 yet (I was level 8, and could’ve made 10 by my senior year). I also reasoned that a college that I could get accepted to for my gymnastics, probably will not match up to a school I could attend for my academics. So, I retired. It sounds as if I was only in for the scholarship, but trust me- that is far from true. I was very passionate about gymnastics, and I still am, but it just became too much for me to handle, for my body and my schedule. I figured why should I do this to myself if I couldn’t enjoy going to gym anymore, and I wouldn’t be performing in a team for college?
If I still had the will to continue artistic gymnastics, it would’ve been different, even knowing that I may not be rewarded with a scholarship. This is because, I feel people should do whatever makes them happy, and that includes reaching for goals even if there may not be a materialistic or monetary gain. The enjoyment of doing whatever one loves best should be the most important thing. The extra rewards (aka material and monetary gains) are what cause people to expect more or less with whatever they gain, and often trigger someone to do something or avoid going for something. People need to strive to excel in goals close to their heart, regardless of how far of a reach. Rewards are beneficial, but they shouldn’t be the deciding factor in what a person does and doesn’t do. People can have all the money in the world, but not be happy with their lives. In my opinion, happiness should be the ultimate goal and ultimate gain, not money or materials.
