Everyone is talking
about Lance Armstrong, so I am not going to. But I am going to consider some of
the issues his case raises. Actually, as I think about it, there are probably
so many issues that considering them all would fill books – and probably will. So
here I will limit myself to just a few points.
The need to win
The drive to win, whether
it be in competition with ourselves or others, whether it be against an
illness, whether it be in a conflict, is deeply rooted in the human psyche. It
is difficult to label it as a bad thing. Without it, we would not have overcome
so many of the difficulties that the human race has faced over the millennia.
Without it, we would not see the human spirit rise to the heights that it
sometimes does. The drive to be the best that we can is, surely, a good thing.
At some point, however, it is fair to ask: at what cost? I may want to be the
very best at what I do. But if I achieve this at the cost of my physical or
mental health, or at the cost of my relationships, or at the cost of my
children, surely I have lost perspective. It is easy to become addicted to
victory, to success, or, at least, to the adrenalin rush that accompanies it.
This addiction is as destructive and harmful as any other. In fact, this
addiction is a terrible side effect of the evolutionary process that has
enabled us to be so successful as a species.
Why sport?
Our society seems to
value success in sport more highly than it values other kinds of success. The Australian of the Year title has been awarded
to a sportsperson in 13 out of 52 years. It has been awarded to someone within
the medical community 11 times. It has been awarded to someone in the
entertainment/arts community 11 times. Perhaps sports people are our gladiators.
We certainly admire people who push themselves to their physical limits. Again,
I would not say that this is a bad thing. I enjoy it too. But perhaps we do not
have the balance quite right.
Of course, because we
value sport so highly, we also despise cheats in this area more than in other
areas. The bigger they are, the harder they fall, and various other clichés. I
understand why we admire people who show outstanding prowess at some particular
physical challenge. But why should we expect them to also show any particular
prowess at being human? Why do we expect them also to be “good” people? “Because
young people look up to them. They are role models,” I hear you say. But this
is not really an answer to the question. This might be why we want them to be good people; it does not explain why we expect them to be. Perhaps part of what
needs to change is our expectations.
Then there is money,
of course. Enough said about that.
Poppy-lopping
This is an Australian
term, and I am not sure if it is current anywhere else. It refers to the
tendency of Australians to want to “cut down to size” anyone who becomes too “up
themselves”. In other words, to cut down the tall poppies. We don’t like people
to get uppity, and so there is always a little delight when the “mighty” fall.
Perhaps this makes us feel better about ourselves. So, despite our delight in
success, paradoxically we also secretly take delight in spectacular failure. I
would not like to be someone that the mob had in its sights. Of course, as soon
as someone is caught out, they immediately become a bad person, in every
respect. Previously we knew they were good at something (let’s say, cycling)
and for some reason we assumed that they were also good in a deeper sense. Now
we know they did a bad thing, so they must actually be bad. Somehow, the idea
that good people can sometimes do bad things, or that bad people can sometimes
do good things, eludes us. To put it another way, we live under the illusion
that there are good and bad people when, in fact, there are only people.
Lance Armstrong’s sin
was to reveal that he is after all, human. Eventually he may feel relieved to
have been stripped of his divine status.
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