Win and Lose

"Never forget
that life can only be nobly inspired and rightly lived if you take it bravely
and gallantly, as a splendid adventure in which you are setting out into an
unknown country to face many a danger, to meet many a joy, to find many a
comrade, to win and lose many a battle." –Annie Besant,
nineteenth-century British political activist

I think the most powerful part of this quote is the concept
of both winning and losing many a battle. Our adventure is comprised of the fact that in life we will both win and
lose. Too often, I simply want to
win. It seems absurd to find any
satisfaction in losing.

Maybe the idea of the quote, however, isn’t about the
fulfillment or joy found in losing rather the acceptance that in this lifetime
we will incur loss. The important piece of the journey is to never allow what
we lose to cause us to miss out on the rest of our adventure. Instead, may our losses bring us into the
depths of living and in the end may we be nobly inspired by the beauty.