One, Two, Or Three

We went this morning to watch as Danny played his final indoor soccer game.  It has been a lot of fun to watch and support him.  Their team is coached by a man who knows and understands the game of soccer.  He has spent practice time teaching the kids the fundamentals of the game.  He has taught them to know what they are doing, with each specific position, and why the player in a particular position does what they do.
I have long held out an opinion that many disagree with but I hope that you will try to understand the way I feel.
During my life, I have had the opportunity to participate is in many different things that, in the end, there are places by which the top participants are ranked.  As a young kid, that was a big deal to be one of the top people.
Some years ago, during the Summer Olympics, a commercial was aired wherein was showed a Bolivian power-lifter.  You know the guys with the humongous thighs that pick up the large bar with the huge weights on each side?  They have to lift it over their head and hold it for a required amount of time.  What stuck out to me was the fact that the 'power-lifter' wasn't necessarily the largest man, rather, he displayed 'guts of glory'.  He struggled to lift the weight over his head, but once he did, he held it strong and firm.  As the horn sounded to indicate that he had made the mandated time requirement, he dropped the large weight and began jumping up and down like a young excited kid on Christmas morning.  The reality is that all of the excitement was not for first place.  That final lift sealed up a third place finish which awarded him a bronze medal finish in the Summer Olympics.  That performance qualified him for a top-tier finish at the pinnacle of his career.
My opinion is this.  Why is it deeply ingrained in the minds of so many people that anything less than a first place finish is lacking?  I watched that power-lifter celebrate as if he had outdone all other competitors.  I believe that doing one's best has become lost in the determination to be the overall winner in everything.  Too much pressure is being placed on attaining a singular spot defined as 'winner'.
I am a firm believer in doing the best that you can.  Everyone has something that they can do better than somebody else.  That is the beauty of being individuals.  Ask yourself that in five years down the road, is anybody going to remember, or more importantly, even care that I won a Future Farmers of America jacket because I recited the FFA creed in front of the entire class?  And what if you are a player on a team that wins the NBA championship? 
Don't get me wrong.  Winning is very fun to do, but there is only one winner and what with everyone else that has also worked tirelessly? 
We want our kids to do the very best that they can do.  If they win...great!  If fourth place is their best...great!
I believe our focus has become a little blurred.  It's just my opinion, so hold onto the tomatoes.