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Ascending to New Heights: Trump and the Return of Winning
If they gave out patches for passing the Presidential Daydreaming Test at Rosecroft Elementary, I’d have gotten more patches than a quilt. But alas, it took passing the Presidential Fitness Test to be so honored. News that President Donald Trump was reinstituting that Presidential Fitness Test brought me right back to Rosecroft. Or more accurately, the ceiling of the cafeteria.Little Albert was fairly athletic. Put a bat in my hand, and I could hit whatever you threw. Hit, throw, or kick a ball, and I’d shoot off like a puppy and grab it. However, I was not one to climb trees, climb rocks, or even climb up for the high dive. I didn’t like heights. Which is why I failed the Presidential Fitness Test a few times—because of the rope climb.
We had to climb up a rope that stretched to the top of the cafeteria ceiling 17 stories above the ground. As bats swirled around our heads. Perhaps I exaggerate. But it sure seemed like 17 stories and certainly thoughts of slipping and plunging down, down, down swirled around my head.Yet, thanks to the test, the goal was put before me. Reach the top and be given a patch blessed by the very president of the United States, who was willing to take time out of achieving détente with China to congratulate me, Little Albert, for a job well done. I had to go outside my comfort zone. I had to push myself. They didn’t hand out “participation” patches from the president, not in my day.
Then came the day. Another chance. I gazed up at the rope disappearing high in the air above, sighed, and up I went; hand over hand and using my legs, past the green paint marker on the rope, soon past the yellow marker that had been my stop point in times past. This time, the prize ahead meant more to me than the distance below.
Up higher and higher. Past the bats. Past the clouds. Past the jets that had taken off from National Airport. Up toward the red. Finally! I made it! I don’t remember what I wrote yesterday, but I do remember stretching to touch the ceiling beam in triumph.I came down with the pride of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins splashing down in the Apollo 11 capsule. The Presidential Fitness Test prize was mine. I’ve won awards in sports. I’ve won awards for writing. Nothing’s come close to the feeling of getting that patch. Getting honored for doing what comes naturally is no feat. But that patch—achieving what seemed unachievable—was a major moment.
Would it have meant as much had I not fallen short previously? What value do we put on a kid’s face that lights up when he achieves something thought out of reach?
What did we deny children by removing the fitness test? What have we denied children by making winning and losing a bad thing? “Participation” trophies that are given out today for merely participating and not actually achieving are chains that keep children tied down.
Trump is giving children back something more than health. It’s the reinstitution of the healthy belief that achievement is good. That working hard can take you far. Maybe not always to the top, but much farther than you would go otherwise.
Trump is giving children something else very valuable: The idea that the achievement of others is something to cheer. Mikki, a classmate of mine at Rosecroft, reminded me that she, too, made it to the top of the rope. Did Little Albert cheer her on? I don’t remember, but the little boy still in me cheered at the news.
In high school, another Rosecroft classmate of ours, Tony, received a national scholastic honor. The news was broadcast during morning announcements. That I do remember cheering. How wonderful for us to whoop it up for Tony! Yet, in far too many woke school districts, academic excellence has stopped being celebrated. Those who achieve are not singled out and acknowledged. Why? So those who do not stand out won’t feel bad.Newsflash for the Woke Educational Complex: If you throw a blanket over a bright spot, all you are doing is leaving kids in darkness. And here’s another newsflash: Kids will still know they’re in darkness.
Think I hadn’t known since kindergarten that Tony’s brain operated on a different level than the rest of us? Think I didn’t know that among my high school friends that I was the academic runt of the litter? Of course, I did. The school refusing to give Tony a shout-out wouldn’t have changed that. Eliminating Honor Roll wouldn’t have changed that.
However, I had been taught along the way to celebrate the gifts of others. Taught that if I wanted to keep up academically, I had to study harder. That’s not to say I always did. (Sorry, Mrs. Rollins.) But the fact was, I knew it was in my hands.Just like that rope for the Presidential Fitness Test.
There is victory in achieving for yourself. There is also victory in cheering for others. You don’t make winners by making sure nobody loses. You make winners by celebrating wins, by encouraging kids to celebrate and encourage the wins of others, and encouraging them to use their losses as incentive to win next time.The president must be commended for bringing not only the fitness test back, but for bringing back the healthy value of merit.
We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.
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