Defiance Before Defeat

I am not sure where it all began, but a lot of people in this day in age have this belief that if they invest time, money and effort into something, it will only return positive dividends.

There have been a great many "encouraging statements" passed on over the years to reinforce this mindset, such as "practice makes perfect" along with "keep you eyes on the prize" and my personal favorite, "no pain, no gain." However, reality isn't always a positively rewarding experience and something, or someone can come along and crush the dreams for those who are making their attempts. A bitter but wise Warrant Officer shared this nugget of perspective with me during my Army days, "The power of positive thinking won't shrink a mountain to make it easier to climb."

Make of that what you will.

Now, take this following battle and tell me if I was playing it for the fun of it, or was I trying to put in a Herculean effort to salvage a win?

Despite my usual, mostly positive attitude on the forums, I do get frustrated to mad during a battle when things don't going according to plan. I can accept, after the fact, when I am outplayed by a better player, or the enemy team is luckier or more coordinated than the one I am on. No words have yet to be invented for that experience when all that "hard work" put into playing just evaporates into a defeat, but after the battle is lost and I recompose myself, I try to remember to tip my hat to the victors.

But still....grrr....