It doesn't take much in the way of guts to strut on the back of a win, but it is much more difficult to meet a crushing defeat with dignity before standing up to try again. Those who deal well with losing a fair fight will make the second attempt at their endeavour armed with both the taste of loss and having swallowed the bitter pill of failure.

Tom Parlon landed himself a great job last week as Director General of the Construction Industry Federation (CIF). Parlon has proven abilities, which we saw during his tenure as head of the Irish Farmers' Organisation and as a PD TD, and I am sure he will be a great asset to the CIF. But this surprise career move was made even more interesting this week by his comments in relation to why he decided to wave goodbye to politics and the Progressive Democrats.

I can understand that losing his Dail seat in the last general election was a bitter blow, but he seems to have taken it worse than I had imagined. In a radio interview on the day he announced his decision to leave politics, he explained that he had worked very hard as a TD for his constituency. He said that he put in a very busy five-year term and spent a lot of money on his campaign for the general election, but then he told us that the Laois/Offaly electorate had given him a "right kick in the backside."

So, voters in the midlands, I hope you are proud of yourselves. You had a man who did all that he could for you and what did you do on polling day?

I'll tell you what you did; you exercised your democratic right and voted for the wrong person! Shame on you.

Didn't you realise how upset Tom would be? Didn't you know how defeat does not sit well on the shoulders of giants? Yes voters, you forced this man into the arms of the private sector with its hefty paycheck.

One thing, however, that does stand in Tom Parlon's favour is his honesty in being able to say that he got kicked and he didn't like it. There are others for whom even getting to that point is a step too far. Despite massive pressure from the public, political opposition and even his political allies, US President George W Bush just can't countenance the idea that his mission in Iraq has failed.

He revelled in the glory of the toppling of Saddam Hussein more than four years ago, but now the country is entrenched in the misery of near allout civil war and he can't admit that it has all gone wrong. The bluster of a person who can't lose face is always an interesting spectacle, but in this case it is far too serious to be viewed merely as an exercise in the psychology of man. Bush's inability to face failure head on and deal with it in a mature and constructive way is leading to pointless loss of life on a massive scale.

I heard a speech last week delivered by the former Ireland cricket coach Adrian Birrell. He said that following the team's historic World Cup trip to the West Indies, he analysed whom he thought had contributed most to the success of the team. Surprisingly, he decided that it was the four players who had trained just as hard as the rest, but when the selections were made, had been left out of the final team.

Birrell explained that the manner in which they conducted themselves in the face of personal defeat (in not being chosen to play) was one of the most inspirational things he had witnessed in the course of their journey.

Their dignity and passion and support for the rest of the players drove the others on to succeed and to perform to the best of their ability.

It's only right that we recognise and reward success, but taking defeat on the chin and being grown up about it is perhaps a much more admirable achievement.