Winners Never Quit

My son, Tim, is four years old. We sometimes play a little game where we try to spot cars of certain colors: blue, red and yellow. (Trains and buses also count, and there is a special rule about large green cranes.)

Tim is very observant, and pretty fast. When he rides on my shoulders he is a difficult opponent to beat. He is not above twisting my head the wrong way or putting his hands over my eyes. A budding master strategist, I am sure. (It is not quite as dangerous as it sounds. We play when walking on sidewalks. Where we live these are well separated from the road. Nevertheless, I am trying to teach him less dangerous stratagems.)

Recently I managed to get the upper hand, 6-3. "Ha," I told him,"I'm leading for the first time. This time I'll win."

Tim was unruffled. "No daddy," he said, "You are leading for the last time."

A few moments later we got within view of a parking lot and he trounced me thoroughly.

The morale of the story is of course that you should never quit just because you happen to be behind on points. This applies to business and life in general.

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