Advantages and disadvantages of a place

Coming in second can be disappointing, in sports and in life. What do silver medal winners feel, coming in second by a few centimeters or thousandths of a second or a single point? What about being someone’s “deputy”: does it mean getting ready to become number 1 or not deserving to be it? Sometimes it’s just destiny that makes a person second.

 

In aristocratic families, the important thing was to be the first-born (male!). even the real Nun of Monza, Marianna de Leyva, was forced to become a nun because, even if the first-born, she was female. This event inspired Manzoni, who readapted it in his famous novel “The Betrothed.” Children after the first-born were “kindly” requested to have military or ecclesiastic careers even though they enjoyed important privileges. In the current British royal family, Prince Harry (second-born), rightly or wrongly, calls himself the “spare.” But those who come in second do their best (sometimes it’s just a question of bad luck), and in any case they’re in a very good spot. Moreover, they can hope to improve, come in first, whereas those already in first place can “only” win again or improve even more. Each place has advantages and disadvantages!

 

 

TEST

 

1) You receive a gift from a person you didn’t expect

 

a) they want to ask you a favor

 

b) they’re really kind

 

c) why did they give me a gift?

 

2) Getting lost

 

a) a show

 

b) in the woods

 

c) in my thoughts

 

3) Prime numbers

 

a) math

 

b) sports champions

 

c) managers

 

4) When a decision has to be made

 

a) I prefer to let someone else decide

 

b) I’ll make the right decision

 

c) I’ll make the wrong decision

 

5) Earn

 

a) an advantage over others

 

b) someone’s trust

 

c) money

 

6) You associate “lose” with

 

a) never mind

 

b) get lost

 

c) waste time

 

7) You’re dissatisfied with your job

 

a) you look for another one

 

b) all jobs are the same

 

c) you work less

 

8) You associate “lose” with

 

a) a leaky faucet

 

b) losing patience

 

c) a defeat

 

9) You want to court a person who’s already engaged

 

a) you try and then see what happens

 

b) you’re insistent

 

c) you give up

 

10) You associate “second” with

 

a) a restaurant menu

 

b) a measure of time

 

c) I second the motion

 

11) You have a task to fulfill

 

a) you prepare in time

 

b) you wait until the last minute

 

c) do I really have to?

 

12) Regarding your friends, you’re

 

a) the most informed

 

b) the least informed

 

c) like everybody else

 

13) Imagine a path: it’s

 

a) level

 

b) rising

 

c) descending

 

14) The partner who left you for someone else comes back

 

a) you’re the winner

 

b) you’re the second choice

 

c) you refuse to meet them

 

15) At the Olympics, the important thing is talking part

 

a) is just rhetoric

 

b) is true

 

c) it’s just about money

 

 

SCORE

 

Question A B C

 

1) 1 3 2

2) 3 1 2

3) 3 2 1

4) 2 3 1

5) 1 2 3

6) 1 2 3

7) 3 2 1

8) 2 3 1

9) 2 3 1

10) 1 3 2

11) 3 2 1

12) 3 1 2

13) 2 1 3

14) 3 1 2

15) 1 2 3

 

EXPLANATION

 

45 TO 35 POINTS:

 

GROW OR CHALLENGE?

 

You want to know, learn, improve, or challenge others or yourself. This can be positive, it’s part of progress, and by doing this you make progress, too. But it’s a good idea to understand what drives you. Are you an athlete? Need adrenalin? Want to crush the others? Or do you need the respect and approval of others? For whom or for what do you want to feel important?

 

34 TO 25 POINTS

 

COMPETE, BUT FOR FUN

 

“Do not despise what you have,  because yesterday you hoped to have it.” This saying by the Greek philosopher Epicurus expresses exactly how you fee. If you want to reach a goal, you’re able to exert yourself, even make sacrifices, but if it doesn’t work out it’s no tragedy. You appreciate what you have but above all you appreciate who you are. People who know you respect you for this.

 

24 TO 15 POINTS:

 

START OR START AGAIN

 

It’s true: you don’t always have to  be in the race, but you shouldn’t give up even before it starts. Maybe you were disappointed in the past, maybe you see working hard to reach a goal more as a sacrifice than as pleasure. Or do you think you have no goals to reach? Have a little more faith in yourself and in your surroundings! Even if you don’t reach your goal, you can always say that you tried!

 

 

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