IN 1968 the American jazz rock music band Blood, Sweat and Tears had a hit song called ‘Spinning Wheel’ which began with the lines “What goes up must come down; spinning wheel got to go 'round. Talkin' 'bout your troubles; It's a cryin' sin”.
What goes around comes around. Perhaps there was a reference to their own band’s name, implying that all their blood, sweat and tears, will be rewarded one day.
Winston Churchill, the British wartime leader, used the phrase, “Blood, Toil, Sweat and Tears” in a speech that also included the words, “Victory at all costs, Victory in spite of all terror, Victory however long and hard the road may be.”
Fighting talk, for sure.
Any successful sporting endeavour will no doubt have involved the players’ blood, sweat and tears. It suggests they have given their all; they have “left it all out there on the field”, as modern jargon would have it.
Success in sport requires a huge amount of dogged determination, hard work, digging in through pain and defeat. Players will play through injuries to reach the goal. They will train when they are tired, exhausted, pushing themselves to do more, straining through heat or cold.
They will sacrifice their physical comforts and well-being without questioning. Such an attitude is one that we must generate in our children. However, we must be careful; it may cost them their house, savings, social life, friendships, freedom, marriages - but still they go through it all, to reach their dream.
Why do they do that? Because they believe it is worth it, all the blood, sweat and tears. They have the satisfaction and contentment of knowing they have achieved their goal, or at worst they have given their all to do so. They have pushed them to the limits. They set out to achieve something noble and honourable. These are all qualities that we should be inculcating in our children. Progress will not come easily or cheaply. We will be required at times to go through blood, sweat and tears.
The sad thing, however, is that is not all that many apply to achieve their goal of winning. Many will apply other means to do so; for them it is winning at all costs. It is not a matter of blood, sweat and tears for them but bribe, sledge and tricks.
They will bribe by giving people inducements or incentives to enable them to win; they will blackmail, bully or bludgeon opponents to achieve their goal. They will not be afraid to injure or make others sick and incapacitated.
They will sledge, seeking to undermine confidence; they will play mind games by making claims of the opponents. They will unashamedly use players not eligible and poach their opponents’ better players. They appeal to the referee, even when they know they are not in the right, claiming their own innocence and accusing their opponents. Oh, yes, winning at all costs – that is what they want. They go beyond the limits.
But is it worth it? Seriously? Is winning that one match, going a season unbeaten, really worth it? Is it worth anything when it has actually cost more than they can earn? The blunt truth which few folk are willing to face is that such winners are in fact serial losers.
Read that again.
They have lost touch with reality. They have lost all reason. They have lost integrity, dignity, humility, humanity, all of that. They have lost respect. They have lost trust. They have lost any conscience they may have had. In short, they have lost their very soul. We have to ask: Is it worth it? Such ‘winners’ are losers.
After all, try reading the lines above in the light of recent events in Zimbabwe, and see how winning at all costs has moved from sport to other sectors of life and national significance – bribe, sledge and tricks? Lies, claims and violence? Winning at all costs. And they think it is worth it. They have lost it.
We noted that the wartime hero Churchill spoke of “Victory at all costs” but he was not referring to the same tactics as those people in sport. There are limits.
When winning becomes our whole life, we have to go on winning — at all costs. But as the coach in the film Cool Runnings said, “A gold medal is a wonderful thing but if you’re not enough without it you’ll never be enough with it.”
We must not allow things to reach the point that Henry Olonga noted with the title of his autobiography Blood, Sweat and Treason. If we have to win at all costs, we are nothing. It is about time we taught that and lived that.
Such folk have lost the plot entirely; they have forgotten, or never considered, that what goes up must come down. It is a crying sin; folk have been betrayed.
The spinning wheel is spinning lies. School sport is not about winning at all costs. Neither is life beyond.