A634.3.5.RB_MedinaM.

After reading the article “The harder they fall” by Roderick Kramer, I realized there are many times in our lives where we experience a similar situation to those mentioned in this article. We may have not experienced the same situations first hand, but we do experience them through friends, coworkers, and family members. Taking the concepts of this article as a baseline to dilemmas that happen in society, work, and in my personal life, I have realized that I have experienced these dilemmas through family members and neighbors.

Growing up I was very close to my cousins, especially those around the same age as me. I had one particular cousin who was two years older than me and lived down the block from my house. Eventually, she left for college, found her soul mate and got married. Throughout all those years we stayed in touch and she visited the family every holiday and summer break.

Three years after she got married, she began to be obsessed about her weight and her looks. So she got herself a trainer, joined the gym, and began losing the weight she had gained in college and in her marriage. As soon as people began to notice her new look, she began spending more time with the people that gave her looks attention, and less time with the family. Every day for the past year or so, she has been taking pictures of herself in the gym and out with her new friends. I tried calling her and reaching out to her but she continues to tell me she is busy. Her commitment to her new looks has now caused her-her marriage and as a family, we no longer see her unless it’s through an Instagram or Facebook picture.

Another time that I have experienced this situation was with a neighbor I was growing up with. My neighbor’s family at the time won the second prize of the state lotto. With the money they had won, they put their only daughter in a private school and bought a bigger new house. On her 16^th birthday, her parents threw her a big, lavish birthday party, which I uncomfortably attended. A year later, she began to call me the same thing her new friends were calling me; poor, gold-digger, and so on even though I have never asked her for any money or gifts. This was when I realized that we were no longer friends.

In the article, Kramer tells us “to the individual with a winner-wants-all mind set, such sacrifices are the price of admission to the top” (Kramer, 2003). In my personal life example, my cousin lost sight of what is important to us, family. Ever since we can remember, we have always known that we should always be close to family. Family has and will always be a priority to me. She sacrificed her family and her marriage just to remain in-shape with her new looks and to be with her new friends. In the example of my neighbor, even though we were young, I feel as if she traded our friendship for friends who represented her new monetary and more lavishing lifestyle. I know that we all make mistakes and at one point or another, we all lose sight of what is important. But, until the people who made these mistakes realize what they have done, nothing will change until they fall down to the ground on their own.

Reference:

Kramer, R. M. (2003). The Harder They Fall. (Cover story). Harvard Business Review, 81(10), 58-66.