Winning!

It is the bane of the male existence.  It is what builds countries and destroys them at the same time.  It is testosterone.  It is within all of us.  How do we measure this thing?  The "eye of the tiger".  Sizing your opponent.

Further, how about deciding when you win?

Some people simply draw a joy from running their perceived opponents into the ground.  They cannot halt their onslaught until they feel that the opponent is completely emasculated and has no chance of contriving a formidable comeback in a reasonable amount of time.  They are Hannibal.  They levelled Carthage so that it cannot flourish again.  They pity the dead and scoff at the resistance.

Then, there is another school of thought of winning.   There are winners that knock the enemy down to its knees just to be able to rebuild them back again.  It's like carving the twig into a toothpick.  It's wearing the sweater down to its last thread, then rolling it back into a ball of yarn.  The hat tip comes when the enemy is exsanguinating, but not dead yet.  And they give him a hand.

I am neither one of those.  If I were to apply my mindset to that of winning, here is where it would fall, more or less.  I am a lazy winner.  Perchance, I simply self-indulge in victory a wee bit early.  I am the victor to whom it suffices to see the gums of its opponent's jowls, the tear in the eye, see the lip quiver, see the hesitation in their voice.  If I get the faintest symptom that my opponent has recognized defeat, I sheathe mine blade.  I draw no particular satisfaction of seeing my challenger's agony.  I am simple.  I just seek a nod.  A tail fold back between the legs.  That is all.  That's my recognition.

Perhaps it all comes back to being a pacifist at heart.  Perhaps it all, also, comes inherently coupled with the mindset of always carefully choosing an adequately clever rival.  I don't know how much I care to defeat the Attila's and the Hannibal's of the world.  They cannot learn from it.  Perhaps Hannibal Lecter.  But not Hannibal, the original one.  Is it all about learning?