How Not To Be A Sore Loser

I am a 73-year-old combat vet from the Vietnam Conflict. I was a platoon sergeant and received 3 Purple Hearts in combat. I led numerous overnight ambush patrols. We all had to devise ways to stay awake while on watch, so I would compose and memorize poetry. I first started to write small poems to my mother as a kid. This poem is about a boy who had lost his first game of organized baseball and how his father handled a distraught son.

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Grandpa's Lesson

Published: August 2, 2020

Though Grandpa was a quiet man, he taught his lessons well.
He showed me ways to understand with stories I still tell.

The first time I had lost a game, he told me what to do.
So now, my son, in Grandpa's name I'll do the same to you.

Hold your head up proudly and wipe that tear out of your eye.
You still can be a winner, but winners never cry.

You've just reached the place in life where winners all begin.
You have to know the taste of loss to savor any win.

If you want to see a rainbow, you'll have to take the rain.
If you want to be successful, you have to take the strain.

If you want to be a winner and hold your head up high,
you have to know just how to lose, 'cause winners never cry.

You could win most any game and jump and shout for joy.
That's a part of life that's shared by every growing boy.

But here's a thought for little guys who join the ranks of men.
A winner is the loser who can suck it up and try again.