Defeat is an inevitable experience in life, but it is crucial for our personal and collective growth and learning. Although it can be discouraging, it also offers us an unbeatable opportunity to reflect and improve. Through defeat, we understand our weaknesses and limitations, which drives us to strive harder and overcome the challenges that may arise in the future with greater guarantees.
Instead of seeing defeat as a definitive failure, it is important to consider it as an opportunity to reinvent ourselves and develop resilience. Learning to accept and face defeat with courage helps us build a stronger and more positive mindset.
Everything stated above is true, but it is one thing to extract positive aspects from a defeat and quite another to celebrate and normalize it. It awakens in me a feeling of deep surprise to see in the digital press, both local and national, the celebrations of those parties that have clearly lost the last general elections. This feeling is motivated by the image and, in my opinion, the bad example that could be being transferred to the whole society and, especially to the young people, who are less and less demanded.
This behavior of sweetening the defeat, of the electoral extravagance, responds to a bad political strategy, to a bad reading of the electoral results and, above all, to wanting to hide what is most evident, that your rival has obtained more votes than you. The data is the data, the numbers are the numbers and these dear friends do not deceive. If you have lost electorally, instead of celebrating, you should be looking for the keys to your defeat, analyze them carefully, establish a plan or strategy and change everything that has not worked or has not been effective. That is what those who truly learn from their mistakes do. To address these imposed and necessary changes due to these circumstances, a personal sacrifice or a change of electoral poster is not necessary, much less. Sometimes it is enough to change attitudes, training and speeches. Life has not ended there. Sir Winston Churchill said that "success is not definitive, and defeat is not fatal, but it is the courage to continue that counts."
These days and knowing perfectly the political system in Spain that is not presidential but parliamentary, I have seen the second political force at the national level effusively celebrate the loss of the elections with respect to its rival by 14 deputies. In the Canary Islands I have witnessed astonished the assessment of their electoral results to a nationalist party defending that, after the loss of support, they will continue in Madrid defending the Canary Islands and that they could be decisive for the governability of the country, something very difficult. While at home, Lanzarote, my capacity for astonishment is totally overwhelmed by celebrating, with photo included, the second place and settling for saying that better results have been obtained than in 2019. What is not counted is that the first force has won you by the most extraordinary margin of all the historical series. As you can see in no case, no self-criticism.
I am not saying that you have to continually lament, or flog yourself with a dagger, far from it, but if you show respect to society and what you truly think when you lose, it is nothing more than an example of honesty. The political class must move away from the trickery even if legitimate pacts place you in the government, it will always be more ethical, credible and reasonable to tell people what you have failed at to improve in the future, it will always be more honest to tell people what shows will of change than to celebrate being second or third. I am very afraid that what I ask for is a toast to the sun and I am also very afraid that I am demanding too much.
The citizens have spoken and that goes to mass, therefore, I take this opportunity to congratulate the true winners of the election night, in Spain the PP, in the Canary Islands the PSOE, and in Lanzarote the PSOE.
Joel Delgado. Senator of the XII Legislature for Lanzarote. Councilor Ayto. Arrecife 2008-2016.
