Too cool to be good...

Okay: Rant time. This has been a pet peeve of mine for a while, but I can't keep this buried any longer. Since when is having ambition or being good at something uncool??? I see this all the time with Ontario Swimmers (even some of the high performance ones) who deny that they're good at something or get sarcastic about it ("Ya, I'm really good." or "Ya, I'm going to work really hard on that"). 

I'm not sure if this is a generational thing or if its an Ontario thing; but its there. A lot of teenaged kids are afraid of being labeled "successful" or "fast. Are they too polite to accept this? Maybe they don't want to rub anyone's face in their success.... but guess what; while we're busy denying our success, Michael Phelps has a video game celebrating his*. Cultural thing? Maybe.

*(Another curious side bar to this topic is that no one is afraid to talk about how good they are at Call of Duty... hmmm).

Please do not confuse what I am saying; being a poor sport or rubbing someone's face in your success is not okay either. But simply acknowledging your success is not wrong. Acknowledging that you want something that you work at for several hours/week is not wrong. 

Parents of today: Teach your children how to take a compliment. Maybe this is something that we should teach in school. Teach your kids to be happy when someone else does well and encourage them to take a compliment.

I think it's my duty to say this, since no one else is: 

ITS ALRIGHT TO BE GOOD AT SOMETHING. 

ITS ALRIGHT TO WANT TO BE GOOD AT SOMETHING.

ITS ALRIGHT TO BE FAST.

ITS ALRIGHT TO BEAT PEOPLE.

ITS ALRIGHT TO WORK HARD.

ITS ALRIGHT TO TRY.

ITS NOT ALRIGHT TO MAKE SOMEONE FEEL UNEASY ABOUT WHAT THEY CAN DO.

Don't hold yourself back because you're afraid your success is going to be uncool. Don't hold everyone else back around you because you're embarrassed about your aspirations. Success breads success. It's your responsibility to accept success and push it's limits. ITS ALRIGHT TO BE GOOD!