On this afternoon's radio program the question put to the listening audience was, "are you disappointed in the own the podium result"

Click here to listen to The World Today on CKNW where show host John McComb reads this letter on air.


Simply put. Yes. If one competes, one is in a competition which has the intended purpose of winning the competitive event. If you don't intend to win then why compete at all? So losing is or at least should be a disappointment.

With that said, the next question could have been posed, "are you disappointed with the athlete's failure to win"? That answer is emphatically, NO!

Failure should not be something any Canadian feels disappointed in. Frankly it is a very Canadian thing to avoid or feel ashamed of failure. But I put to you this, is it not better to have tried something spectacular and to have failed than to have tried nothing of significance remaining safe and complacent? The best effort of the Canadian athlete who failed is as monumental as the effort of the athlete awarded a gold medal. Both took extreme courage and dedication. Both embarked on a path risking failure if not victorious. This is what should be inspirational. First or thirty first, your best on the day you compete is all anyone could ever ask or expect. Sometimes you come up short and fail.

If we Canadians were to embrace the risk it takes to fail as much as we covet the ultimate achievement of winning, we would not need to own a podium, because we would already have the inherent and sovereign right to be called Canadian. To be Canadian would be compared with one who has the drive toward excellence, and the inner strength to accept a win or a failure. To be Canadian would mean to share the "no risk no reward" mentality of our fellow countrymen whether they be in sports, business, academics, the arts or politics. To be Canadian, we would celebrate the relentless pursuit as much as the ultimate victory. To be Canadian, would be to admonish as champions, those who stepped out on the ledge with the greatest risk. When the payoff was success, we would bask in the moment with them while still acknowledging and admiring all those who failed in the same pursuit before. To be Canadian would mean that the flag waiving and anthem signing we have enjoyed over the past 10 days or so, was not simply a fad, it was our greatest moment on the world stage. That moment being a milestone when Canadians collectively began to believe in ourselves. Believe in our accomplishments as well as our failures and to hold each up as sinning examples of what it is to be Canadian and what our nation stands for.

To be that Canada, would mean much more than medal totals, bragging rights or Television network coverage. It would tie our nation together with a bond that could never be broken.

That is who I believe we really are. Will we use this time to recognize it, embrace it and make it the rock our nation is built on? Might we have this as the foundation for generations to continue building upon?

Yes we will, but only if we are not afraid to fail because only then will we ultimately achieve lasting success.

A proud Canadian
Dave McIlroy