Art judge and some thoughts on criticism

[thirteenfingers]

I don't know when losing became a bad thing.

I used to run cross country but never came close to winning a race.

Did I achieve something? Yup... I never finished a race in a lower position than the one before.

Did I learn something? Yup... I learned (at the age of 8, and understood) that there's far more than "first place" to achieve. I learned that someone being better than me didn't take away from what I can do or achieve.

Giving a prize for every place denies that very important lesson.

[thirteenfingers]

I might as well follow that with another story.

Aged 11 to 16 I entered the school swimming gala every year. I never did well, but always swam.

Then I started training and racing with one my town team.

In my last year at that school I raced and beat the school's "best swimmer" - who was on a rival town team.

The sense of achievement and pride was really quite overwhelming.

I've seen both sides of the argument, both as a "never gonna win" and as a "winner".

Win or lose, competition is good.

[leroyart123]

Thanks sir!  I liked this...

[AudioVerite]

your cool dude i love the world wide web, you surf and find something of really value every now and then. brain food, YUMMIE

[flynfreako]

i couldn't help but giggle when you made those faces because of your daughter X3

i like your videos ^.^

[Marihani]

Very good points. I like when you sit and try to reason through stuff like this.