Light Rewards
Our little
community of around 170 townhome units has a Christmas Light decoration contest
every year, or at least for the past two years.
Mrs. C who
does not know to take two steps back when volunteers are asked for, has been
one of the judges both years.
Judging is
difficult, most people do not go too overboard in decorating, and it is of
course very subjective. Some units have
very little front to decorate, others much more. Do you reward those with more property to
decorate? Some people use those projector
things to cover their home with twinkling lights. They take about two seconds to set up, do you
take away for lack of effort?
It is not
always easy to judge fairly.
In the end,
who really gives a dang? The winners get
a five dollar gift card to Walmart and a tiny bit of recognition. Not particularly important.
The lady
that runs the contest, a very nice lady who puts in quite a bit of effort in
the process, is a big believer in fairness.
Mrs. C was just
informed that this years second place winner would not get recognized because
that home won first place last year. The
top judge believes in giving recognition to others. So instead of coming in second, that home is
fourth and gets no Walmart gift card. The
number four home moves up to third. No
one will actually know this except the judges and, like I said, the process is very
(that’s super in
young people talk)
subjective, so what is the difference?
Well there
is no difference except, to me, this is a microcosm of our world of fairness and
inclusiveness today.
The best
player on a kids soccer team only gets one MVP of the game every year. Spread the accolades around…it’s a self-esteem
thing don’t you know.
Bad scores
on a test? Scale them up so everyone passes.
A bad grade will keep you out of college and ruin your life
forever. It is better to pass than learn
math.
Finish last
in a race? Your participation trophy is made out of the same plastic and the
same size as the winners. Everyone is
happy…right?
Well the
kids know who scored all the goals game in and game out, they know the real MVP.
They do learn that being the best is not
that important.
The kids
know their math sucks, they assume math is meaningless.
Everyone
knows who finished first, they also learn that striving to be the best has no
extra reward, in fact those who are born with special skills or ability should
probably slow down a bit to let everyone have a chance.
It is only a
stupid Christmas Light contest. Just a
few people give a fig about the results.
I wonder though, if everyone knew that part of winning was to have not won
before, would the decorating effort diminish as the years go on. Would Christmas in the neighborhood
eventually be celebrated with changing porch lights from white to red or green?
Probably
not, and who cares anyway? Just cranky old men who fear the only way for
everything to be fair is if everyone gets nothing…except maybe those that get
to decide what is fair.
May your
days be happy and bright, (but no happier or brighter than your neighbors), and may all you Christmas’s be equally
white.
Got to agree with you Joeh. Really in the effort to be fair, they are totally unfair. Never did believe in participation trophies either. Not to put Mrs. C out of a job, how about a community vote?
ReplyDeleteYour conclusive wishes had me laughing! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThat's a very unfair system, but possibly better than the same house winning year after year ad the one with little or no money to spend on lights never getting a chance. I do think demerit points should be given for those who have so many non-stop blinking lights they could induce an epileptic seizure in the onlooker.
ReplyDeleteLife's never going to be totally fair and inclusive.
ReplyDeleteJudging in such situations is tricky. I judged one-act plays a couple years at our County Fair. The same group had been winning every year with a similar type hokey country play. I casually mentioned it might be fun to see what they could do with a different type story. The next year they did just that and, unfortunately, not very well so I judged another group first place. I was totally surprised when they blamed me because they didn't win first place. They seem to have interpreted what I said as an instruction to do something different, so they had and therefore believed they should have had first place instead of doing what they did best. Never mind their play wasn't very good and I certainly wasn't giving instructions to any of the groups, including them. I had no idea they'd not exercise their own judgement about the limitations of their own acting abilities, much less think they had to please me. Actually, it was good another group got to win as others were getting discouraged at not winning. I moved away so don't know what happened successive years.
ReplyDeleteI made a special effort this year with the decorations. I hired helicopters to fly overhead beaming down various coloured lights on our home and blaring Christmas songs like "White Christmas" and dropping artificial snow.
ReplyDeleteAre the neighbours happy? They complained to the police and I was told to stop or face Court proceedings.
Christmas? Bah ... humbug! I had to send away one hundred carol singers dressed like angels, half a dozen reindeer and a fat man dressed in red!
God bless, JoeH. Best wishes to you and your family ... and your readers too.
Everything does not need to be a contest. And when someone excels when it is a contest, they should get rewarded. But not everyone. Christmas lights especially are not a contest. They should be a time for folks to just enjoy. That's my soapbox rant.
ReplyDeleteI cannot be impartial, having borne the wrath of family members for winning "all the time" at my sister's Christmas Eve party contests! As if I should dumb down my answers so those LOSERS could win! They'll get my $10 fleece blanket prize when they can pry it from my toasty-warm losing hands!
ReplyDelete