Few things make me as upset as seeing someone who “deserves” to win lose through no fault or mistake of their own.  I am speaking in general terms of the results of Survivor: Heroes vs. Villians, a reality show on CBS.  Russell Hantz, an oil company owner from Dayton, TX is arguably the greatest manipulator the show has ever seen.  Like him or not- he plays the game within the rules and does what he needs to to accomplish his goals.  He is the most hated player the show has ever seen, BY THE OTHER PLAYERS, which has cost him winning either of the two seasons he as been on.  However it is also worth noting that he as won the “FAN FAVORITE” $100,000 award, which is voted on by the viewers, both times he has competed and reached the finale.  What this shows me is that the people Russell manipulated and used to his own ends-WITHIN THE BOUNDARIES OF THE RULES- can never win because the other contestants can not look past their own disdain and anger toward him to see that he truly deserves to win based the thousands

Russell’s play and 2 second place finishes have made me realize something that I really think is important.  In my mind he deserved to win, when looked at from a “game” perspective…however, he made people upset and made their lives miserable on his way to reaching the finale.  That part of the “game” is not accounted for by Russell and ends up what eventually costs him the million dollars, because the people he moves like pawns and manipulates are the very ones that decide to give him the million dollars or not and they can not and will not over look his brashness, rudeness, and hubris and acknowledge his superior game play and manipulation techniques.

THAT IS THE LESSON DEAR FRIENDS

The Tao of Russell states:  No matter your level of accomplishment, no matter your level of success,  no matter your level of pride – when looked at and judged by other people, they will remember how you treated them and those around them proving that emotion will always out weigh logic in personal decisions.