A Defeatist Attitude is.....uh, well, Self Defeating

 I am beginning to notice a trend among the people I see, day in day out and from time to time: they have resigned themselves to the idea that Trump is going to win/steal back the Oval Office.  They saw Joe Biden's horrible lapses in the debate last Thursday, and their hopes seem to have been dashed on the rocks. 

Growing up, I played competitive sports as much as I could.  I was on varsity soccer, hockey and junior varsity baseball.  I have also been a very competitive shooter since pre-adolescence.  I have won multiple state championships in a variety of disciplines, and I am still shooting clay targets as I creep up on eighty. 

What I can tell you about competition is that as much of it is in your head and your attitude as is in your body's strength and coordination.  You can practice the finer points of technique and train so hard you are in danger of over-doing it, but, it won't be enough to make you a 'winner', unless you have a winning attitude to go with the physical strength and skills.

Once upon a time, I was competing in a sport known as international handgun metallic silhouette, i.e. IHMSA, and the game is to hit little cut-out steel animals.  This done with, .22 caliber handguns at 25 to 100 yards, and from 50 to 200 yards with larger, center-fire handguns.  It is very challenging when you consider that the 'chickens' at 25 yards are about the size of one of those 'Peeps' marshmallow Easter candies.  

So, the weekend of the New Hampshire State Championship arrived, and my shooting buddy, Elwin, came to pick me up and head to the range. When he got to my house I met him at the door and told him that I felt really lousy and probably should stay home.  He smiled and said that we could go and if I still didn't feel well enough to shoot, we would just turn around. So, off we went with me feeling like I was coming down with the flu.

I did decide to go ahead and shoot after we got to the match, but I had zero expectations that I could hit anything.  As we settled in on the firing line, I was feeling very detached and just wanted to get it over with.  But, as it so happens in competitive shooting, feeling relaxed and unattached to any particular outcome is good medicine.  I shot my ass off and hit damn-near every target.  Yes, I WON, never mind any sickness or self-doubt.  Because I was so relaxed about being in the run for the championship, had pretty much let go of that possibility, I was able to concentrate and truly be present to the sights and the targets.  

To this day, that event has served me as a reminder that getting worked-up and worried about the future just makes it all the more likely that you will push away the very thing you desire.  

By now, you can pretty well guess where I am headed with this.  We need to stop gnashing our teeth, wringing our hands and wailing our death chant.  We need to set aside the result we so badly  need, i.e. Trump loses and self-combusts.  We need to get practical and do every-damn-thing we can to turn out the vote, to make certain that the GOPs are  unable to steal the election by all the various means that they so hypocritically accuse the Dems of  using.  

We need to fight the good fight, And, we need to NOT GIVE UP ON OURSELVES BEFORE THE BATTLE HAS EVEN BEGUN.

We need to believe that whatever the outcome, we'll deal with it.  We are Americans, yes, the same ones who stormed ashore on Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Normandy, Anzio...and so many more.  These invasions were, no exaggeration, "death machines".  If you were there, in a landing craft approaching the beach, you knew you had a very good chance of dying....and, yet, thousands of American, British, Canadian, Free-French soldiers stormed out of the boats onto the beaches that were being cross-stitched by machine guns and shell-fire.

If we cower before the plans and intentions of Donald J. Trump....we will get exactly what we deserve.  A transformed America that previous generations would just look at and shake their heads.  

GET OUT THE VOTE!!!   STOP BEING SO GOD-DAMNED NEGATIVE.  

WE CAN DO THIS!!!   AND IT NEEDS TO BE DONE. 

They paid the Ultimate Price....we owe it to them to uphold what they died for.