Winners that Cheat Are Losers

One of the main lessons any good parent tries to teach their children is to be honest and never cheat.

I guess Lance Armstrong either was never taught that lesson or simply forgot it.

Armstrong took the sports world by storm by winning seven Tour De France bike racing titles and putting the cycling sport on the map. Because of him we all now worry about running over riders during rush hour each day. Bikers are everywhere, all the time. Even I have one, though it is begging me to take her out for a ride.

For years this man was an American hero, even overcoming cancer during the process and inspiring people all over the world. What he had done was amazing; a record most agree was up there with the likes of Nolan Ryan's 5,000 strikeouts. It was a record most agree would never be broken again.

Too bad the record no longer stands.

Armstrong retired amidst a storm of controversy surrounding allegations of sports enhancement drug use. Though he never tested positive, most know athletes these days can beat nearly any drug test even those done without warning. Apparently, this man was proud and open about his use of the drugs, including his teammates and friends in his scheme. As most cheaters do, he felt invincible and never even thought about all that was at stake.

Well, the heat soon got too hot to stand ending in him being banned for life from the sport he loved and having all of his titles scratched from the record books.

It wasn't his enemies that did him in and called him out. It was his closest friends who finally spoke the truth.

Honesty and integrity are hard to find these days. Kids see other kids cheating, watch TV stars and other "idols" get away with lying and see too many adults that are just as bad. Even our nation's leaders appear to mislead and lie in attempts to win.

No one is perfect and all of us have likely crossed the lines between truth and untruths, but now more than ever we need to rise above the mediocrity and do our best to go against the tide - even if that means we lose.

Winning by cheating may feel good for a minute. It may even last a few years. But in the end a cheater is still just a loser in costume.

True winners don't cheat.

"So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin." James 4:17

(c) 2012, J. Brady

"I say it how I see it and make no bones about it.”