You're good and smart enough...

Last weekend at his first Indy 500, 19-year-old rookie Marco Andretti (grandson of racing great Mario Andretti) finished second -- just six-hundredths of a second behind the winner. His father finished just behind Marco in third place. Despite their amazing second and third place finish, the Andrettis were disappointed. After the race Marco said, "I'm competitive by nature. Woulda, coulda shoulda -- second place is nothing," according to a May 30 article on ESPN.com. \nMarco, you just finished second in the biggest race of your very short career and that's "nothing?!"\nI confess: I'm a competitive person, too -- a product of this culture where we always strive for bigger, better, best. I certainly appreciate the desire to win and excel, but what kind of message does that send?\nThe same message sent when universities and professional sports teams fire coaches for failure to win a championship. Many coaches with outstanding winning percentages get the pink slip unless those wins result in championship rings. Take Mike Davis, who was on the hot seat every year after his amazing first-year run to the NCAA final.\nIn a recent interview for the New York Times, French tennis star Amelie Mauresmo discussed her "late bloomer" status in the sport. Just this year, at age 26, she won her first grand slam tournament at the Australian Open. Mauresmo said, "I didn't grow up in the culture of victory, where you are expected to be, or have to be, the best." For Mauresmo, winning tennis wasn't the only thing in life. "If [tennis] led to something, great. If not, there were other things in life." American athletes are educated "to win, to be the best, (it's) a bit (of) the American mentality. Number one, number one, number one," she said.\nBut this "never quite good enough" doesn't exist solely in the world of sports. Art historian and author John Berger wrote in Ways of Seeing, "(Publicity) offers (the buyer) an image of himself made glamorous by the product or opportunity it is trying to sell." These images make us "envious of (who we) might be" and we "(live) in contradiction between what (we are) and what (we) would like to be." Publicity makes us think our lives "will become better" if we only attain the "improved alternatives" we see.\nHow many people do you know with insecurities about their physique or their abilities? How many times have you felt embarrassed for not owning the nicest car or the newest phone? Mauresmo certainly nailed that "American mentality": Be the Best! Be number 1! Nothing else is good enough (and even then, you can do better)!\nI recently saw a sign board in Bloomington displaying the message "Learn to be comfortable in your own skin." Too bad this is something we have to learn to do by de-programming all those "not quite good enough" messages. But to Marco Andretti and everyone else who supposedly comes up short, "Congratulations!" Be proud of your accomplishments -- in what you have and in who you are.