“Assuredly, men of merit are never lacking at any time, for those are the men who manage affairs, and it is the affairs that produce the men.”

–Catherine the Great

 

Does it seem to you like every kid today gets a participation trophy for playing sports? Sign up, show up for some of the games, and there’ll be a trophy for you at the post-season party. It didn’t work that way when I was a Little Leaguer!

Back in the day, we settled for an “Attaboy,” “You did your best,” or “We’ll get ’em next season” as satisfactory affirmations of our play.

But today? No way. A trophy-less season is a wasted season, no matter how much the kids learned on the field, court, or in the pool. Is that the message we want our youth to receive?

If we’re not careful, children will grow up not in a meritocracy, but in a world where everyone should be treated and rewarded equally, no matter the effort. We could see colleges choose to stop issuing grades–oh, wait a minute, that’s already happening! Notwithstanding the attempt to make it so, outcome equity isn’t the real world.

Sandy Koufax, one of major league baseball’s all-time greatest pitchers and the anchor of the Los Angeles Dodgers rotation, refused to pitch the first game of the 1965 World Series. The problem: the game fell on Yom Kippur, the holiest of all Jewish holidays. Dodger Nation was thrown into turmoil, but it wasn’t of his doing. His decision had been made quietly and prayerfully.

Koufax put his faith above any personal drive for recognition or success. Ultimately, he didn’t hurt his team, as the Dodgers defeated the Twins and won the Series, four games to three. No doubt even if the Twins had won, he wouldn’t have second guessed his decision. Little wonder he’s known as “The Left Arm of God!”

Eric Liddell is a less-recognizable name. Unless you’re a track and field buff, you may only know him from the 1982 Oscar-winning movie Chariots of Fire. Liddell was born in China to missionary parents, but he was schooled in Great Britain. His faith was evangelical Christianity, and it dominated his approach to life.

He was a gifted athlete, especially in track. As one of the favorites in the 1924 Olympics 100 meter dash, he stunned the sports world when he refused to run the race. The problem: he would have to run on a Sunday. At that time, and even until my childhood years in the 60s, devout Christians did very little other than worship on Sundays. Remember the “Blue laws?” Many secular activities were prohibited on Sundays.

Like Koufax, Liddell put his faith above any possible personal success or fame. We can imagine the stir it created in Great Britain. He was vindicated, however, when he ran a then world-record time of 47.6 seconds in the 400 meter race, winning the Gold Medal for Great Britain. The next year, he quietly left for missionary work in China and eighteen years later died of a brain tumor. He was only forty-three years of age, yet his legacy lives on.

So, two men of very different religions, but very similar in how they honored the tenets of their faith and their God … and both willing to give up the biggest trophies of their sports: a World Series ring and an Olympic medal.

Understand this: These were two young men who’d gone through their formative years and, based on their respective upbringings, made conscious choices of substance over sizzle. Today’s children aren’t there yet in their maturity process, but hopefully they’ll learn to be proud of personal effort, doing their very best, and accepting the consequences.

Without lugging a trophy home to gather dust.