Why Play By Adeline Atlas (SOS: School Of Soul)
Dec 17, 2025
PART IV
THE PARTICIPATION BADGE ERA
TWENTY-ONE
SECOND PLACE IS THE FIRST LOSER
Period. It’s ok to lose but you should want to win in life. What winning looks like can be different for everyone. But everyone should want to be a winner in their own life. Everyone should have a goal they are striving for as their ideal life and everyone should want to be moving closer to it every day.
We want to breed a society of winners and those who attempt to win. What we don’t want is to breed a society of those who think simply showing up and participating is good enough.
Winners win awards; participants are awarded badges. Which means they either do or do not win.
Rewarding for “only participating” is setting us up for a society that only participates. If the children are trained to accept that participating is good enough, eventually they will all ONLY participate and no one will try.
The concept of the "participation-badge era" refers to a time when people were just participating in life, rather than truly winning or achieving their goals.
A badge is a small emblem or patch worn to indicate membership in a particular group or organization. An award, on the other hand, is a prize or recognition given to a person or group for their accomplishments or contributions in a particular field or activity. The main difference between the two is that badges are often used to indicate membership or skill in a group or organization, while awards are given as recognition for outstanding achievement or contribution. One is just a person who shows up to the game – the other is the one who contributes. Those who contribute win – there is no try. You either do or don't. Training for the participation badge is training in how not to win.
Did you pay your taxes, or did you not? Real life is black and white, and participation badges and feelings don't breed winners. Showing up in life is not enough. We must show up, contribute, and add value to the world to win an “award in life.” Unfortunately, the “award” is getting to barely make it. The law of diminishing returns shows that the carrot is almost gone; we run and run and run, but we need to get off the wheel now because the door is closing. What do I mean? I mean we need to get stronger as a society. We need to revert to hard work reflecting good morals and work, a high honor so that we continue to create and produce. We must create something, make something of our lives, or our lives are of no value, and the system is going to swallow us up.
People often settle for mediocre lives and jobs because they are not getting rewarded for their efforts. When not rewarded for their efforts many will stop trying.
Think of society as a table – all tables have a top and four legs. The four legs hold the top of the table up and secure it. Currently, we have a society in which the older generations retain the ethics of hard work and doing your best to win in life. The younger generations are being raised to think simply participating is good enough while being sold the simultaneous dream through social media of glitzy lives as rewards for doing nothing – an ideal, a bubble that will surely burst as these younger generations reach the real world and realize they have none of the skills or drive needed to survive let alone thrive and get the things they have been conditioned to want. Ultimately we are setting the younger generations up to resign and become discouraged. The problem? As a society, we will become the tabletop and those younger generations the legs to the table. Will they be able to hold us up?
