Learn from the young

The young lady pictured at left during last summer's Olympic games is McKayla Maroney.  She's a gymnast and she came in second in her vault competition.

Hence the look. 

It turns out that she is not p.o.'d at anyone but herself for coming in second; she admits that she messed up.  "I didn't get my full block; my hands didn't really touch the vault. I still walked out with a silver medal and I'm happy about that. It's really sad that I had to fall on that vault but I'm glad I won a silver medal. I know I can do better vaults but I also know I didn't deserve the gold medal because I fell on my second vault. It happens. It's gymnastics. You can't always be perfect. Sometimes things don't go as planned."

So she was a little mad at herself for not doing as well as she could, but she realizes that sometimes, things don't go your way and you just have to go on, waiting for the next chance you get to do better.

Last week, McKayla got to meet the president at the White House, along with the other members of the US Women's Gymnastic Team - the "Fierce Five" who collectively won the gold medal in London.  She playfully recreated the semi-grimace that made her famous in the summer as the president played along.

Sometimes, we can learn a lot from young people about doing our best and then not making excuses when things don't go our way.  Of course, it's easier to deal with adversity when you're not a spoiled little rich kid crying because you lost.