Walking in the Valley A weekly column for those who live and walk in Silicon Valley by Barbara Dahlgren

Is there nothing sacred anymore? All I needed was Boardwalk or was it Park Place to win the McDonald's Pick Your Prize Monopoly Game. Now I found out the reason I lost is because the game was rigged. McDonald's is facing a lawsuit because some guy at Simon Marketing, the company that contracts with McDonald's to run their promotions figured out a way to beat the system. He's been giving his buddies the winning game tokens and getting big bucks in kickbacks. The suit names McDonald's and Simon Worldwide Incorporated as defendants and seeks damages to customers who were defrauded. I want some of that action. I calculated that I should receive at least $20 to recoup my losses and I want them to pay for my Jenny Craig appointments, too. You can't eat that many fries and drink that much soda without putting on a little weight.

Let's face it! People like to win. Of course, with the McDonald's controversy it is more than just winning because of the money involved. But what about that Little League scandal? It seems the first Bronx Little League team to reach the World Series has an overage pitcher. Danny Almonte's documents were forged to make it appear he was 12 instead of 14. This kind of marred the fact that he threw the first perfect game in 44 years in the tournament. Then there is the humiliation of his team being disqualified from winning the World Series. It just goes to show you to what lengths people will go to be considered a winner.

Maybe it's true that the person who said, "It's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game!" was the guy who lost. And the guy who said, "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing!" must have won. Our society is built around one winner, the top dog, numero uno, king of the hill, leader of the pack, so on and so forth. However, life is not fair. It isn't always the best, the fastest, or the most qualified that come in first. (Ecclesiastes 9:11) But unfortunately no one remembers the name of the guy who came in second.

This is not the way it is with God. God loves us so much that He doesn't divide us into winners and losers based on what position we are in. With Him it is enough that we ran the race and finished. That alone makes us a winner. (1 Corinthians 9:24-26, Hebrews 12:1, 2 Timothy 4:7)

So the winner can be……..YOU! You don't have to eat more Big Mac's. You don't have to falsify your birth certificate. You don't have to know the answer to the $64,000 question. It doesn't even matter if you are second, third, tenth, or 1324th. With God you win! And guess what? He even knows your name!

©September 2001

Be sure to visit this page every week to read the next edition of Walking in the Valley. You can write to the author at bydahlgren@aol.com.