Birthdays and competition

I recently initiated an awards event on another blogging/journal site for members of a particular television series fandom in an effort to get some recognition and a little reward for some of the hard working writers, artists and vidders out there. The whole event has been a huge success and it's nice to see people getting that recognition.

Did I win? Yes, I did win in some categories and was nominated in quite a few. Which was great.

But here's the kicker. No matter how much to sugar-coat it, someone is going to be the loser.

I've just been reading an article about this very same thing. Winning and losing. In this crazy world where we have political correctness, and don't get me started on that particular subject, there are some who don't think competition is healthy, and that there shouldn't be such labels as winners, or losers. Well, I'm sorry to say this to the nay-sayers, but I do think competition is healthy and yes, I do think there should be these labels.

I'm like a lot of others. I hate losing. Let's face it, it bites! But why should it be a bad thing to lose? It just means there's room for improvement and gives someone a goal to beat next time. I mean, take an athlete. For example, a runner. So they lose their race by about 15 seconds. But next time they're training, they're thinking about beating that time. And they do. Maybe they didn't beat the winner's time, but they still beat their own personal time. That makes them a winner.

Do you see a pattern here?

The point is, as a friend once pointed out to me, if life were easy, it would be boring. We can't all be winners and we can't all be losers. And I do think we need those labels. They don't have to have negative or positive connotations. It's just a way of seeing things.

Anyway, forgive the slightly off-topic segue, but part of this whole competition thing is birthdays and siblings. What is this new trend where a child not only has a birthday but now siblings or friends get presents too. I don't remember ever having that when I was a kid.

A birthday to a child, well aged under 10, is a very big deal to them. And I think it's entirely appropriate for the child having the birthday to feel like the centre of attention on that day. And giving a sibling a gift takes that away from them. Maybe not a lot, but a little.

Yet, here's the PC parade once again saying it'll engender jealousy in the other child. Which has me shaking my head in disbelief. Yes, there is some jealousy in sibling relationships. I grew up with a sibling and there was a bit of rivalry going on. It's natural and it probably happens in a large percentage of sibling relationships. It doesn't make it a bad thing.

Maybe others would disagree, but my feeling is, letting kids get their own way early on just turns them into entitled adults. But that's just my opinion.Maybe it would be different if I had kids of my own, but I would like to think that if I was ever lucky enough, I would be the type of person who would teach their kids to respect rules and treat others how they would expect to be treated.