K.+SAT+Essay

SAT Essay “That is impossible!” I shouted at the TV. My heart felt like it had jumped off a cliff and splattered to a thousand pieces. A look of sheer dismay and embarrassment spread across my face as I was looking at the scoreboard. Bayern Munich, the German record champion team in soccer, just had given away the Champions League final by getting two goals in 120 seconds of additional time and finally lost 1:2. However, only one year later the team would advance to the final again and eventually win it. The players had learned a lesson about staying focused until the end and turned their experience into success. There are situations in which everybody wins because sports competitions can teach a valuable lesson, people can find moral justice, and political decisions can improve everybody’s life.

The word ‘winning’ is very often associated with sports and competitions where a team or a single individual competes to win a championship. However, losing can be very essential to sportsmen as they try to achieve success. Losing a competition can be very unpleasant, but it is probably the most helpful experience in sports. It helps everybody to learn from mistakes and encourages to do better the next time. My mom always used to tell me that “people fall, so the can learn how to get back up”. If a team wins a competition, the losing team still wins something: a valuable lesson. Sports competitions come around almost every year in all kinds of sports. There is a fair chance to improve and do better the next time. A final is not always the last game played in a player’s career. Sportsmen often get the chance to take ‘revenge’ or to succeed in the championship later on.

Winning can have the meaning of ‘overcoming an adversary’, but it is not always a matter between human beings. My dad’s best friend was diagnosed with cancer, and his friends and family do not know how long he has to live. However, he has not given up and fights the disease every day. In this situation the fight is not a competition, it is the fight for staying alive. If my dad’s friend could ‘win’ against the cancer, he would not have to worry about what will happen tomorrow. Winning against cancer is not only an achievement for a single person, it is also a win for all the people who suffer from the disease and still keep their hopes alive for a healthy life. On the other hand people can win and achieve justice by ‘winning’ a court case against a criminal convict. It is a strong relief for many people if a murder gets a long prison sentence. A court cannot bring back any people who died, bit it can do justice and take away a threat to the society. Being secure is definitely a win for everybody.

Politics are a hot topic and also the main reason for big controversies. However, politicians have made decisions which have lead to big success and had positive impact on the society. Good examples are the killings of Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden. It is not the death alone that people can see as a victory; it is the fact that they will not be able to kill thousands of people again. It was a win for the society when the mastermind behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks was taken down. The friends and family of the attack’s victims could finally bring closure. Politics also bring reforms which help to create equality and fairness in people’s lives. InSwitzerlandwomen were not allowed to vote until the 1960’s. Luckily the laws were changed and both women and men can vote now. Those developments can be seen as a win for humanity and equal rights. Men and women can celebrate that as a victory without any losing party.

Finally I can say that winning does not always require a big loser at the other end. In a lot of situations losing can be used as a way of learning and actually achieving success. Besides all the sports, a win is characterized by overcoming obstacles, fighting threats to the society and mainly symbolizes the victory for public good. In my eyes winning is not all about two parties fighting against each other. People can win all together without any ultimate losers.