I think you’re a loser.

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“I think you’re a loser.” Sounds like an insult, right?

Not necessarily.

There’s a line in the movie The Natural that states that very thing. (I’m a sucker for feel-good sports movies, and this is one of my favorites.) Darren McGaven plays Gus Sands, a sportscaster, who can make or break baseball players with just a few keystrokes. Robert Redford plays Roy Hobbs, a pitcher with the fictional New York Knights who can do, well, anything.

Hobbs walks the straight and narrow, much to the chagrin of the team owner, “The Judge.” The Judge wants his team to lose (it’s complicated). Hobbs refuses to be part of throwing a key game. The Judge gets Sands on board, and Sands has one simple comment to Hobbs – “I think you’re a loser.”

I don’t know why that little throwaway line sticks with me.

To a champion athlete, one of the biggest insults you can hurl at them is to call them a loser. That stings.

Are you a loser? Consider:

  • You botched a huge test in middle school.
  • You struck out.
  • Your romantic partner ditched you for no good reason – ok, maybe you mishandled things.
  • You were passed over for a promotion.
  • You think you’re an idiot, that everyone else gets the breaks, everything you touch turns to doo-doo, and so on.

Let me say right now that failure is an event, not a person.

That has a lot to do with your mindset.

Having said that, I still think you’re a loser, or have the potential to be. Or, perhaps, why you should be a loser.

Here’s why.

  • You have lost the capacity to hold a grudge. You realize that grudge-holding serves no purpose. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t have personal boundaries, and that sometimes it’s appropriate to gently remove yourself from a toxic person. But you know what I mean.
  • Losing yourself in a cause bigger than you are. Volunteering at a homeless shelter. Going all-in as a disciple. Helping other folks without them knowing, or expecting anything in return. Picking up trash on the sidewalk that isn’t yours. The list is endless.
  • You’ve lost your “rights.” That simply means that you have lost the sense that you’re entitled to “breaks, “blessings,” “bonuses,” and so forth. Every heartbeat is a gift – but you aren’t even entitled to that. It’s being in a state of perpetual gratitude. You’ve lost bitterness.
  • Losing yourself in joy. I am not talking about an emotional state of mind that is transitory. Joy isn’t necessarily happiness. James said to consider it joy when we face trials of all kinds. Trials don’t make you happy, but the joy comes in knowing that there is always a purpose in trials.
  • Peace is the loss of turmoil. Wouldn’t it be great to lose yourself in tranquility? This isn’t about entering some sort of zen state. Rather, it’s knowing that you have every reason to be at peace because you are gripped by the Prince of Peace. Having royalty on your side isn’t a bad thing.

I could keep riffing on these, but you understand. It might be a helpful exercise for you to get a pen and paper and list the things you want to lose.

Backing up to my illustration from The Natural (spoiler alert), Hobbs doesn’t throw the game. There’s a splendid happy ending (with fireworks, yet!) The Judge loses. This, to him, is the bad kind of loss. But for Hobbs, the loss of what could’ve been a substantial payoff became a good thing. Simple lesson – always do the right thing.

I think you’re a loser. Embrace that.

P.S. – there’s one other line of dialogue from The Natural that I love, between Hobbs and his childhood sweetheart Iris (Glenn Close):

– Iris Gaines: You know, I believe we have two lives.
– Roy Hobbs: How… what do you mean?
– Iris Gaines: The life we learn with and the life we live with after that.”

It sort of fits here, don’tcha think?

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