Someone has to lose

The last time my parents visited, we got together with some in-town relatives to play cards. Improbably, our Rook game ended in an exact tie – both teams got exactly the score required to win. This resulted in the following:

Me: Wow, how often does that happen. Everybody won. ^_^
My grandfather: *starts dealing another hand*
Other in-town relatives: *various mutterings of having to find out who won*
Me: O.o?
My mom: *leans over to me* It’s not enough that someone wins, someone has to lose.
Me: … That explains a lot.

The world really does seem to be divided into those who need for someone to lose and those who don’t care if everyone wins. It shows up on MMO bulletin boards where people argue endlessly about whether everyone should be able to get/do/have everything with a bit of work or whether there should be some things that only an elite few can have (generally meaning that virtual dice rolls of a tiny chance are involved). More disturbingly, it shows up in politics, particularly when it comes to things like universal healthcare or anything else that can be seen as helping the disadvantaged.

It isn’t about competition, it isn’t about effort, it isn’t even about rewarding skill or ability; it’s…something else. To some people, it isn’t enough to have, earn, or gain something, it has to be something that other people don’t have. And the last thing those people want is to have to share or to help other people get, well, anything. It’s a mind set I can’t wrap my mind around.

Unfortunately, the concept that everyone can win, that there’s no reason to limit who can have access to things is just as foreign to them.