Loser Society

The common sense is, if you’re smart, you’re smart your whole life, and that usually comes with success. So if you’re not smart at all, you’ll know it since earlier ages. And it goes like this, smart kids usually end up in prestigious schools and hold the key to future; while not-so-smart kids will fill up the society (you know, like the majority of us). So when people say “bright start,” it implicitly means “bright future” as well.

Well, if it’s always like that, there wouldn’t be any losers. Why? If you, and others, don’t expect too much of yourself, you won’t feel unhappy as things turn out not so good. But when you start expecting too much, you’ll feel real pains when life turns south. And I believe that’s the concept of “losers.”

I want to give many examples, but I don’t know that many, although I hope you do. Perhaps the best example would be for some Hollywood movie stars, I mean, the not-so-successful ones. When the Seinfeld sitcom got so popular, people all expected each of the cast members to be successful later. Well, sure you see most of them got a role in some movie here and there, but none of them ended up anywhere near that expectation. Call them losers? Not quite, since they make more money than any average American, yet in some sense they’re indeed the losers. My point is, it’s the comparison (to expectation) that makes one feel like a loser.

Perhaps only jokers like me would consider such a concept. But hold one, there’s some merit to it. Here’s why. You’re born into a loser family, I mean, a family that is almost always near the society’s poverty level, and you have like 10 more siblings. Even worse, your parents “strongly” believe that this whole world is just temporary and the only place worth their attention is that far-far-away heaven. So, why would they seriously try anything if this world isn’t meant to last? And they kind of fall back on welfare and pronounce loudly: “Kids, you’re on your own… my only advice to you is JUST STUDY THE BIBLE CAREFULLY, AND GOD WILL PROVIDE.”

My point is, if you’re one of those kids, you’re pretty much a born loser (although you will prove yourself later not to be one). But it’s tough to disprove the “born loser” theory. Suppose you do well in school and get a good college degree, then a good job. But a bunch of your siblings may not make it to the glory path you take. So they keep yelling “Bob, help me please! I just lost a bunch of money on bad trades and now the banks gonna take my house away…” Or even worse: “Bob can you please help me pay hospital bills, coz’ I have no insurance!” OK, you must have screamed out loud “How materialistic this guy is!” But tell me who is not. Money may not buy you happiness, but the lack of it surely brings you hell.

Sure you can try to escape that “loserness” or “losership” or whatever you call it, but it ain’t easy. I mean, after all they’re your family, you can’t just burn the bridges without serious heartache. Everyone knows that if you hang around with losers, you’ll be one like them. Or vice versa, if you stay away from them, things will get better. But what if staying away from them will make you unhappy? Why? It’s simple, no one ever abandon their family without feeling guilty. And if you believe in karma, it would make a dent in your heart and your mind. At the least, you just lose all the support (physically, emotionally…) from your family, the things you’re entitled to in this life. A person living with guilt, treating family like enemy can’t ever be a winner.

That’s my point exactly! So there IS such thing as a born loser.