Tonight is the last night of Hanukkah.  It is on this night so very long ago that the Maccabees celebrated the miracle of the oil, after taking back the Temple in ancient Israel from the Greeks, and rededicating it to its former Holy purpose.  It was a last-ditched effort by a small independent band of Jews to overcome the encroachment of Hellenization on their religious world.

Underdog Day

It’s also officially Underdog Day, which got me thinking about why we love those that take on Herculean tasks, against what appear to be insurmountable odds.  Why when we look at an epic battle before us, do we so often root for the ones expected to lose?

Why do we love the underdog?

There are so many reasons we love the underdog.  They provide hope that we too can overcome incredible odds when we find ourselves facing them.  We imbue qualities of purity in purpose or rightness of cause to those that take on more than they can chew, and over and over see those individuals getting squashed under the dull, heavy machinery of progress, greed or ego.  We believe we’ve seen it so many times in our lives, that when the machinery is jammed up by someone loudly fighting back, we stop and stare, our fingers crossed.

Famous underdogs

Our history and mythology is littered with the successful upsets of the underdog.  Nelson Mandela. Mohandes Ghandi. Moses. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Cesar Chavez. David. Rocky Balboa. Cinderella. Clarence Darrow. Jesse Ventura. King Arthur. Joe Namath. James “Buster” Douglas. Horatio Alger. Pope Leo III. The Ugly Duckling. We love the underdog so much, that it has become commonplace for the leaders of any great struggle to diligently work hard to obtain the label.

We relate to the underdog

The Maccabees did not obtain the label of underdog because of their victory.  They hold that nomenclature only because we have agreed with claims that they were just that.  As Americans, we can relate to standing firm against a tidal wave of conformity, as our very Nation sprang from a need to break free of colonial conformity and unfairness.

The importance of the term

To this day, the media is played by both sides of the Palestinian-Israel struggle in an ongoing dispute to hold the moral high-ground of “the Underdog,” each eagerly pulling reporters down damaged alleyways, to review the aftermath of the latest atrocities endured.   More than winning any skirmish on the ground, the victory to be seen as the underdog is a sure method toward capturing the hearts and minds of the greater world.

Do we really just hate the “Overdog?”

We don’t really seem to love the underdog so much as we hate the group or individual they are facing off against.  It typically has a lot to do with perception about fairness.  How often do we sit down to a football game during a season when we cared little about the teams?  We sit down to enjoy, and see on one side a powerhouse team, lauded for victory after victory by the announcers, with an angelic two-legged pigskin launcher, tons of adoring fans, wheelbarrows of money on fire to keep the players warm, and blanketed in a brand new stadium that smells of caramel lattes.  We then turn our eye to the other team, astroturf still wedged in their facemasks from the last game, every other digit wrapped in bandage tape, huddled on old benches in the cold between two solemn Catholic priests busily shaking holy water at them and praying fervently.

Stop laughing, I know I am stretching it a bit.  I mean, who brings wheelbarrows to an NFL game?  The thing is, we never rooted for either team, and never gave a damn during the season who was winning or losing games.  But all things being equal, if we allow ourselves to perceive that one team has an unfair advantage over the other, we will automatically choose the underdog, hoping that a universal force of justice will prevail.

The strength of the underdog

The victory we commemorate each and every year in Hanukkah is a victory celebrated far beyond the Jewish faith.  The overthrow of the Hellenists allowed the survival of traditional Judaism, and events that led to the birth of Christianity and Islam. The Maccabees’ popular struggle led to other uprisings, and the eventual downfall of World domination by the Greeks.

Want to win any battle in life?  After choosing a righteous cause, you’ll need two things – persistence and the label of underdog.  It doesn’t matter how often you are kicked down in the pursuit of your dreams.  If you keep getting up day after day and fighting the good fight, if you allow others to see the purity of your purpose and the odds you are working against, little by little you will gain a following.  It doesn’t matter if they never knew your name before; if they don’t like who you are battling against, you have their support. People will laud your efforts, pat you on the back, slip you support when nobody is looking, and define themselves publicly through their relationships with you.  They will applaud and remember you, win or lose.

As we celebrate the day of those that stand against the greater world, I wish you a Happy Hanukkah.  Please have a peaceful evening, and use this time to re-dedicate yourselves to the good fight…