What we lose when we win - Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

See his post here:

It's not clear to me that LeBron James was the bad guy portrayed here, because what did he owe Cleveland except 7 years of the best hoops he could deliver, and didn't he do that?

But although I think the rabbi is wrong on this detail, he's definitely right on his larger point:

Yes, we all want to win, and no, none of us enjoy losing. But the price we're prepared to pay for our victories is that which will determine our essential character.

So in all contests, there are two. The smaller contest is with the opponent. The larger, the one that counts, is over who we are. We need to fight the small fight in such a way as to win the big fight. To make everything clear, God will sometimes ensure that the cost of winning for real is to choose to lose the little one, no matter how big it feels.

The details of this truth in each of our lives I leave as an exercise for the reader; for the writer, too.