Purpose, Virtue, Starlets, And Inexplicable Comments About Italy

“I disagree with what you said about the underlying theme of chapter eight in this book. It’s really not about man’s struggle with double-sided tape. It’s a metaphor for the Mesopotamian social hierarchy during the Bronze Age.” – Homestarrunner

The easiest way to get gold, silver, and bronze Olympic medals?  Kleptomania.

One theme I keep returning to in this blog is purpose.  I have a friend (you’re shocked, I know) and we talk from time to time.  One observation that he’s made is that they’ve done studies of people who have won medals in competitions like the Olympics®.  You’d think that the person who was happiest was the person who won gold.

It’s not.  It’s not the person who won silver, either.

It’s the person who won bronze.

Third place?  Well, they know it wasn’t a fluke that they didn’t win.  There is that “second place” guy who pops that illusion bubble.  But they made it to the big show, and, heck, they’re third.  Not bad!

Bronze is the Libertarian Party of medals.

The person who wins silver is usually very, very unhappy.  Why?  Every minute of the day they have to wonder:

  • What if I had worked just a little harder each day?
  • What if I had listened to my coach?
  • What if I hadn’t spent the night before the Olympic© finals at the strip club drinking tequila shooters with Crystal and Svetlana?

Little things like that begin to nag at them.  Plus they get Brady Cake:

Tom Brady is so old . . . he won his first Super Bowl® while the world was still in Standard Definition.

So, gold medal winners should be happy, right?

Some really aren’t happy.  They’ve climbed the mountain.  They’ve spent, in some cases, tens of thousands of hours in practice at the highest level.  They’ve skipped going to parties when others were having fun.  They lived, in some cases, like monks to climb to the greatest levels of human performance.

Some of them get there and ask . . .

  • Is this all there is?

Those folks who ask that question were working for the wrong purpose.  Their idea wasn’t to be the World PEZ® Flicking Champion, it was someone else’s idea.

So they went with it.

Don’t say this three times fast.

You can see those folks, especially a few years after the Olympics®.  They’re the ones that are on the third DUI or are the 4’6” gymnast that looks like they’ve swallowed a refrigerator.  Which, I will say, does make tumbling easier.  If you call rolling “tumbling.”  Meghan McCain does, especially if it’s toward a buffet.

So, what about those people who win a gold medal and are just fine?  What’s different?

They have purpose.  Their sport was only a part of their purpose, and was only a part of what drove them.  They are centered, and the biggest part of their purpose isn’t achievement.  Achievement is a byproduct.

The folks who win and don’t self-destruct have a purpose, and a purpose rooted in virtue.

To be clear, very, very, very clear:

  • Virtue does not guarantee victory. At all.

Virtue (and a purpose rooted in virtue) just makes victory bearable.

Why do so many early twentysomethings mentally implode when they achieve fame and stardom and immense wealth?  That’s an easy question – they find themselves in a world with no real restraints.  The real question is why don’t more starlets become headlines?  I’m pretty sure Miley Cyrus isn’t in a good mental place.

In Europe, she’s known as Kilometery Cyrus.

In one respect, not being wealthy and famous is a great substitute for willpower:  you can’t end up dead in a hotel room in Thailand surrounded by heroin, empty take-out boxes of food, bottles of Captain Morgan’s Spiced Rum, and vats of industrial-strength skin cream if you have to get to your steady job.

A mortgage and car payments have probably saved a lot of dads uncomfortable phone calls from the Italian Government as to why their 22-year-old was found “improving” the Sistine Chapel painting.  Thankfully, back then they charged the fines in something called “lira”, which is just like money but is instead made of colorful Christmas wrapping paper.

An aside, things to trust Italians on:

  • Food.
  • Wine.
  • Car body design.

Things not to trust Italians on:

  • Anything you need tomorrow.
  • Anything electronic or electric.
  • Anything where the oil or engine coolant is supposed to stay on the inside.
  • Anything remotely resembling fiscal discipline.

Italians are great at soccer – you change sides halfway through.

And, apparently, never trust John Wilder to wander off on a tangent on a Friday post.  I’ll get back to virtue and purpose, and promise not to wander too far again this post.

I’ve written several posts about Virtue.  It’s been a common theme.  Here are a few:

Kardashians, Hairy Bikinis, Elvis, Wealth, and Virtue

Roman Virtues and Western Civilization, Complete with Monty Python

Ben Franklin and his Thirteen Virtues

Why Character Just Might Be A Better Indicator Of Marriage Stability Than What Her Butt Looks Like

Regrets? Don’t Regret Anything, Unless You Want Me To Slap You When You Are Old.

So, have a purpose.  Live your virtue.  And when you have high achievement, when you win the gold, when you achieve amazing business success?  You’re ready to deal with it.

I’ve heard of a village in Africa where they’re dealing with a drought and thirst.  I hope they “Get Well Soon.”

But let’s say that you don’t win the gold.  You don’t have amazing business success.  Virtue allows you to be ready to deal with that, too.

Or you could just win a bronze medal and have a mortgage?

Nah, go for the virtue.  You’ll eventually pay the mortgage off.

Author: John

Nobel-Prize Winning, MacArthur Genius Grant Near Recipient writing to you regularly about Fitness, Wealth, and Wisdom - How to be happy and how to be healthy. Oh, and rich.

34 thoughts on “Purpose, Virtue, Starlets, And Inexplicable Comments About Italy”

  1. Purely academic point – if your sport is women’s Olympic swimming, (Rebecca) Virtue can make your hours of training for victory not just bearable but also wearable…

    https://www.pinterest.com/modesens/becca-by-rebecca-virtue/

    But Becca is more than just a line of swimwear…

    https://olympics.nbcsports.com/2020/08/24/becca-meyers-paralympics/

    Great puns today. And great points. How do you come up with these week after week?

    But…bikinis, John. Always look for the bikini angle too. 🙂

    1. Very nice! I’m hoping she does great.

      Thank you. I thought all dads did that???

      Yes. Moar bikinis. l’ll work more in!

  2. Found a great screen grab of comradette (unity über alles) Myley done up in They Live style with tongue and wrecking ball. It was from a muh tube video that has probably been pulled due to thoughtcrime by now.
    Another featured Brucey Jenner (muh Olympics) also in colorful They Live treatment.
    Waylon Jennings sings Love of the Common People because they are the only ones who get it right.
    Those old CCCP (USSR) racial tension stoking agitprop videos from the 1984 L.A. Olympics were fun to watch at school but this was back before participation trophies and hivemind woke Red Guards hysteria.
    Trophies? We don’t need any stinking trophies.

  3. Some of the saddest stories are of those who peaked early and suffered overwhelming good fortune that literally killed them. My high school’s Homecoming Queen the year I graduated died of a drug overdose while living in a trailer park with the last in a series of anonymous loser boyfriends before she turned 22. Beautiful girl, wildly popular, and no slouch, academically. But fate just gave her more early success in life than she could handle.

    Like anyone else, I often wonder what those who were blessed with, or fell into unfathomable success actually do with themselves, hour after hour, day after day. When you become the richest person the world has ever known and you literally alter the course of life for everyone else on the planet while still in your 30s (looking at you, Bill Gates) what could you possibly do for an encore?

    Fortunately for the vast majority of us, success unbounded is not an option, and we never have to ask ourselves that question. This is not to say that winning ain’t sweet. Given the chance, by all means, go for the gold. But it sure can’t hurt to have a plan for what to do should success ever unexpectedly smack you upside the head.

    I know what I’d do. I’d remain immensely humble and never forget all the little people I trampled under my boot to become such a successful SOB.

    1. I think it depends on the foundation. I have known men who went from triumph to triumph, and (second hand) their friends (ditto). All were good Christian men from stable Christian families in healthy American communities in a country that did not hate itself.

      The foundation is three-fold: The wider society, the local community, and the family.

      Exercise for the student: Compare Miss Miley Cyrus to Miss Shirley Temple Black. Both, by the way were exposed (literally) to Hollywood perverts. One ended up settled, happy, and an ambassador.

    2. I (thankfully) had success, then failure, then success. The failure bit in the middle was a better teacher than the sucess on either end . . .

  4. Gold medals are great, but they don’t mean much, when you have to ask how to read a measuring tape.

  6. Virtue, maybe. Understanding that your victory is a combination of discipline and a gift from God might be more realistic.

    We are all blessed in one way or another in some specific or sometimes many specific areas. We initially do nothing to inherit these marvelous abilities. When we start exercising these we see success and generally success breeds success. We focus on our honing these skills. We succeed further. We forget that we are blessed and assume we did it all because ‘we wanted it’. When we substitute our desires for God’s handiwork, chaos ensues.

    I suppose that the best way to explain how those folks who win and keep it together manage to do so is most likely a large dose of humility. Of not allowing their ego to grow so large that they lose sight of reality.

    You also have to recognize that just because you excelled and won does not mean your life path has been set. Most all of these victors are in sports where once you stop competing you disappear from the headlines and unless you have a back up plan, you become unemployed and with few options.

    Most people who understand this from the git go do a lot better in the long run.

    Puns remind us that sometimes the simple pleasures and joys in life are the best.

    1. Virtue is its own reward: Having prudence, justice, temperence, and fortitude the rest follows.

      Add talent and a bit of that strumpet, fortune…

    2. And that’s the point – the ride never ends. You don’t win and it’s done.

      And that may be the biggest gift.

  7. This might explain the Left’s over-the-top craziness. They came in 2nd in 2016, and just HAD to tell themselves that they REALLY won, but Trump cheated. It could NOT be them, it had to be a plot that unfairly stole the election from them.

    The gut-grinding hatred they still display is not going away. They are like your ex-wife who has to maintain that hysterical level of hatred, years after the divorce, because they just could not believe that the loss of Perfect Them was not going to crush you completely. So, if you went on to a happy life after, it could only be because you STOLE their live away. By some devious manly trickery.

    Who ever thought that NOT being such a superstar would turn out to be the best thing that happened in our lives? That, by not hitting all the top prizes, being a Young Kid Who Had It ALL, we would end up with love, family, and a fulfilling life?

    1. I had never thought of the Other Half of the USAians and their response to Mr. Trump’s victory, and the loss of their paper Queen, Hilary as analogous to the Spurned Wife.

      At first glance, it would have to be that faithless tart who wrecks it all because ME!!!!! But first glances can be dumb as a sack of rocks.

      That is an interesting insight. I’ll think about it.

      Thanks.

    2. Yup. Winning leads to losing. Crazy idea.

      And the Left is utterly unhinged. Perhaps many of them are forever broken. What a tough life . . . .

  8. In 1993, a public intellectual named William Bennett compiled “The Book of Virtues: A Treasury of Great Moral Stories”. Ten years later, it was revealed that he had lost millions of dollars gambling in Las Vegas. Virtue is, it seems, easier to preach than to practice.

    1. Did he have millions to lose? Rich people hobbies…

      But yes, assume this person practiced chastity, fortitude, magnanimity, patience, honesty, and wit, but failed at temperence.

      Why does that matter? And no, not a question to be sarcastic or snide to you. Why? Do you know? I suspect it does. And you are on to something.

      But I reject your conclusion: Try preaching virtue at your place of businesses or on Facebook and see where it gets you. It’s bloody nerve-wracking.

    2. If it was easy, everyone would do it. If you accept that we are flawed, we can and should preach the right thing to do and make every effort to live by our words. When we fail, we don’t give up, we try to make ourselves better. This is the evil of the left, preaching that it isn’t worth the effort and that if the preacher is human, then his message is wrong.

      And for the record, it is an outstanding book.

    3. I’d forgotten about that! Yes!

      Virtue is easier to preach than to practice. But by preaching it, I’m trying to learn it better so I can practice it better.

      Not that I always do a great job. I fully admit that I’m NOT the best person I know – not even close.

      But I try.

  9. I laughed so hard: Picabu ICU. Soooo bad. I made the DP run upstairs to see the WWW post before we could watch anime.

    Also.. Interesting topic. This month I’m working on an arete project. Very timely. Thanks.

  11. If you spent months indoors trying to warn Americans about the dangers of tyranny, you might be horrified to find out that reality is worse than what you thought.

    You can’t even travel to another city now without going to the doctor and getting a physical.

    You must wear a mask, carry canvas bags around because plastic bags are illegal, your mobile phone is wiretapped, and you can’t smoke.

    Maybe the worst part of living in a police state is that everyone thinks that the USA has never had this much freedom before and everything is wonderful.

    Insanity.

  12. Makes you wonder whether or not Miss Gorilla Glue 2021 will donate any of her 20K+ raised from
    a Go Fund Me account to the doctor that helped her pro bono. I’m guessing “no”.

  13. Perfesser Wilder,
    This should brighten your day further!

    Slow-motion eval of the January 6th 2021 ‘murder’ of CrisisActor ‘ashli babbitt’:
    Title — Everything Wrong With The Capitol Shooting
    https://youtu.be/yBhzqV_C9-Y

  14. Pingback: Word from the Dark Side – selfless SS snow sweepers, steel snappers, snoopy snitches and St Catherine of Siena | SovietMen

    1. You’ll believe me that I originally thought about that . . . but forgot by the end. It wasn’t on porpoise.

Comments are closed.