Wednesday September 22, 2004
Underdog myths
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My investment advisor dropped around last week. We had the usual discussion about how well various investments were doing, and what changes we should make.
After he left, I found myself thinking about the gulf between what I – and probably the rest of us, too – actually do and what I/we claim to believe.
Because most of our stories, our fairytales, our foundational myths, are about the underdog triumphing over adversity.
A pimply teenager named David goes out unarmored against a giant called Goliath, fells him with a puny slingshot, and lops off his head.
Hansel and Gretel outsmart the wicked witch.
Beowulf vanquishes mighty sea monsters at the bottom of the sea.
St. George slays the dragon.
Horatio stands at the bridge and fights off a hostile army, saving the city of Rome.
Beauty transforms the Beast.
The third little pig boils the wicked wolf.
Dorothy exposes the Wizard of Oz.
Luke Skywalker defeats the Evil Empire.
I\’ve tried to think of any fable, myth, or even novel, that celebrates the big guy cheerfully crushing the little guy. I can\’t. Sure, the underdog sometimes perishes in the attempt, but the sacrifice is always presented as a moral victory, a triumph over impossible odds, a noble gesture.
Wanting to win
\”Times New Roman\” size=\”3\”> Given that literary context, it\’s little wonder that the Americans don\’t earn a lot of sympathy at (to take one example) the recent Olympic Games. I suspect that much of the world was secretly delighted when Argentina trounced the American “Dream Team” in basketball.
As the world\’s only superpower, America is automatically cast as Goliath; anyone else as David.
Yet when push comes to shove, when the Jets line up against the Sharks, how many of us actually join the underdogs? Not many, I suspect.
We all want to be part of the winning team. Canada will spend millions to prop up its international athletes. In the World Cup of Hockey, Canadian enthusiasm grew as Team Canada headed for the gold. Whole cities go into mourning when their team fails to make the playoffs – in hockey, in football, in baseball…
In my investments, I certainly don\’t sink my retirement security into penny-stock underdogs. I go with the big mutual funds, the proven winners, the safe investments.
And let me tell you, if the world faced a showdown between the U.S. and, say, Guinea Bissau, I would far rather be in the U.S. camp. Which doesn\’t mean I would approve of everything the U.S. might do. But I\’d rather not be on the losing side, thank you very much.
I don\’t know whether I\’m talking about hypocrisy. Or double standards. Or whether I don\’t really believe all those stories I\’ve been fed, all my life…
But it does make it easier for me to understand why many people profess belief in an underdog who challenged the powers-that-be of his time and died miserably on a cross, but live more like believers in Wal-Mart and General Motors.
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Copyright © 2002 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups permitted; all other rights reserved.
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