Being a little brother

It took me almost 28 years but I finally got the chance to feel like a little brother. Ok, I am probably exaggerating a bit, especially given how little I recall of the first few years of my life, but recently I got another chance to feel like the little brother, the first in a while. I am less than a year and a half younger than my older brother, Jonathan, so for most of our childhood I do not remember having the problem of always trying to play catch-up. We did a lot together but for the most part I found a way to be competive with him. The "friendly" competition between Jonathan and I has had some interesting side effects. In high school while he was doing cross-country skiing I was doing fencing, so we did not have a good basis for comparison, but in college when I managed to outski Jonathan he turned around and upped the ante by running a marathon. Not to be outdone, this last year I responded to challenge and ran a marathon with him. Of course we were not "racing" but I would point out that I finished before him, though there was a stretch where I was walking on Summit Ave wondering if I could start running again if he passed me. Anyway, like I said, for the most part when we compete it is on a fairly even playing field.

So a couple of Saturdays ago, despite the negative temps and even worse windchills my brother and I went skiing at Como Park. Finally I got the chance to feel like a real little brother, always pushing just to catch up with my big brother who was always a hill or a turn ahead of me. Just as a side note, Como is a terrible place to play catch-up. The trails make good use of the space, doubling back and forth to give you lots of skiing, but it means you always think you are close until you realize that the person is actually way ahead of you and it is just that the trail doubles back. So all of this to say that it was interesting, fun, and furstrating to be playing catch-up. It gave me something to push for. When you are head it is easy to pace yourself based on the people behind you, just working to stay head of them, but when you are behind you have someone pushing you to faster than you want. I like that kind of competition. I once hiked up a part of a mountain with my cousin, maintaining a remarkable pace through out it because neither of us wanted to be the one to slow down.

As I raced to keep up with my big brother I appreciated what healthy competition can do to keep us motivated. Being behind my brother encourages me to work harder so that next time things are closer. Being behind is something we tend to look down on. In the US we take pride in the fact that we are #1 and we work hard to stay #1, but we do not work nearly as hard as maybe we would if were #2 and trying to keep up with #1. Sometimes it helps to have that person ahead of us that makes us work a little harder. The impressive and stunning plays at the end of the Super Bowl were not made by the team that was ahead, playing to keep their lead, but by the team behind, trying desperately to take the lead. Maybe it is better in some ways to be #2 instead of #1, at least that is what this little brother, this #2 child is thinking today. Plus it takes the sting off the fact that my older brother completely outskiied me