Resilience: Kansas City Chiefs

By Alex Greenwood

The Kansas City Chiefs have gone from worst to first in less than a year…a tremendous accomplishment, no matter how you assess the mechanics of a winning season. I won’t recap here the horrors of last year–both on and off the field–but know this: it doesn’t get much worse than the KC Chiefs in 2012. You can’t blame anyone who had a dismal prediction for 2013.

However, this year we discover a reborn organization. New leadership on the sidelines, new or empowered talent on the field and a positive attitude throughout have conspired to create an undefeated season thus far.

Though the team’s perfect record likely won’t last, the Chiefs’ reinvention is making a lasting impression. People who once laughed or shook their heads pityingly are now speaking of the team with respect–however grudgingly. This turn of events is not only remarkable, but inspirational.

Certainly, football is just a game, and in the grand scheme of things–stacked up against war, poverty,  a malignancy in political civility and other issues–it doesn’t matter terribly much. Yet it can mean everything for people who feel they have no chance of redemption–that their failures in life or business are a permanent scarlet letter. The Chiefs are an excellent example for us all as we determine our next steps after failure or setback.

We all fail. We all lose. It’s what you do after that failure, that loss–that matters. Do you wallow in despair and refuse to rise up and fight again? Or do you regroup, seek out new allies and get back in the arena?

Congrats to our resilient Chiefs. Let’s all of us in Chiefs Kingdom agree to stick with our team from now on–through the bad into the good–and eventually into the greatness that surely lies ahead.