Published Friday, January 28, 2005 in East Valley Opinions of the Arizona Republic as “Cooperation creates only winners.”
My son’s Cub Scout pack had their annual Pinewood Derby on Saturday. With the help of Paul, a Boy Scout, with the design and Gary, a Den Leader, who brought his table saw to cut the wood, and, of course, yours truly, we ended up with an exciting curvy, little blue car driven by Hagrid of Harry Potter fame, no less.
The real Hagrid would have made us break the five ounce weight limit, so we had to settle for the Lego version; technically it was Hermione’s body with Hagrid’s head—as even Lego Hagrid was a bit too big. Jacob was confident he’d win… and he did win … the first race. He then lost the next four and dreams of first place, fell to second, then to third, then to rooting for a friend.
His friend Tyler, an eight-year old, was having a great time with his first Pinewood Derby car. It cruised to victory for eight straight races, earning him a small trophy for the Wolves subgroup, but then, just as he, like any eight year-old, became convinced of the invincibility of his car, he lost consecutive races and elation turned to inconsolable sorrow. Read the rest of this entry »