“This is so sad for them. I mean, it’s over. They’ve already lost.” My tender little Enneagram 2 daughter said this to me during Sunday night’s Super Bowl, somewhere around the beginning of the fourth quarter. The game was lost for the Chiefs, pretty much out of reach (especially considering how each team had played so far). Her heart was hurting for the guys on the field who knew the goal could not be accomplished but had to remain on the field until the final whistle.
I knew exactly what she meant. But almost without thinking, I said, “And now is the true test of what kind of team they are…”
After those words came out of my mouth, somewhat startled, I looked at her and jokingly said, “Wow, that was pretty good. Do you think Coach Wheeler would want me to give an inspirational talk to the team any time?”
All jokes aside, I’ve kind of mulled over that statement of mine for a few days. I’ve thought a lot about goals and dreams. And lest you think this is going to be a motivational blog post… think again. It’s not. Haha!
The Kansas City Chiefs started this season the way every team starts every season…. Their goal was to win the Superbowl. (Well, let’s be honest. This year, I suspect every team’s goal was just to get to have a season and not lose anyone to Covid. But also to win the Superbowl.) Kansas City and Tampa Bay made it one or more games past every other team that started the season. Their goal was within spitting distance. (But again, no spitting because Covid.)
By halftime, Kansas City likely knew that the goal was not going to be attained. At least not this year.
However, they came out and kept working. They didn’t give up. Those guys got hit time after time. That quarterback kept scrambling. No one headed to the sideline or the locker room halfway through the third quarter because they knew it was lost.
The whole truth is that sometimes we set goals that just simply will not and cannot be met. Either they were unrealistic from the beginning or we didn’t work hard enough in the off-season or things just didn’t go our way or the other team was a better team with a magical quarterback.
The question then becomes, not even how do we respond to adversity, but do we finish the game? Once we know that the goal absolutely will not be met, do we continue to show up until the clock runs out or do we just stop trying? Are we the kind of team that will, having begun the work, finish the task at hand and then, when the clock runs out, reset and establish a new goal?
It’s the way we face the rest of the game once the chance of winning has passed that truly defines our character… how we respond when it’s obvious the goal will not be accomplished, but there’s still work to be done… fruitless work. But work that will hopefully allow us to gain skills or lessons that will perhaps one day apply to another goal.
The game was lost, yet…..