As my husband and I waited patiently for our eldest son’s name to be called at his middle school awards assembly (and I’ll use the word “awards” lightly-stay tuned) we both stopped reading the program mid-way and looked at each other, puzzled expressions on our faces.
There it was, listed amongst the “Attendance,” “Honor Roll” and other awards:
Tryuuuumph Award
2.0 or better
There may have been some additional text along with that, I’m not sure because my brain couldn’t process past the words “2.0” and “Award” in the same phrase.
Unless modern grading has radically changed, 2.0 is a “C.” Average. Mediocre. In the middle of the pack.
My thoughts then buzzed to my son’s report card and the few times that I’ve ever seen a “C” (I’m not bragging, there’s a point here I promise) and how disappointed I was, because I knew he could do better if he put some effort forth. He always has and that’s why thankfully, in his final grades there’s never been a “C” listed: he knows our expectations of him, and that he can and will do better.
For our kids, who are expected to get A’s and B’s because they will work hard to do so, a Tryuuumph Award is a bit like a “Showing up and Breathing Award.”
The assembly rolls along . . .and along . . .and we realize that the reason we aren’t hearing our son’s name yet is because every student in the sixth grade is receiving an award of some sort. Every. Single. Student. Then I thank the Gods of job flexibility for allowing us this time to wait as a couple hundred or more kids walk across the stage and wonder if all of the other parents are wondering just what awards, exactly these kids are all receiving.
This may anger today’s parents but in my opinion winning and losing–excellence and failure–are just part of life. We don’t all get trophies, we don’t all get our dream job, we don’t
all get the perfect body, spouse and soon-to-be perfect baby (except you Jessica Biel, except you.) But with a lot of work, a little luck and a ton of perseverance, things will probably work out and we’ll end up winning at something or other.
And while it’s important to celebrate our successes, it’s also important to celebrate others when they succeed and take a moment to reflect on our own performance to ask, “hmmm, how can I improve so next time maybe I’ll get an award?”
Let’s congratulate the honor roll students and encourage the would-be Tryuuuumph Award-holders to belly-up and whip out the ol’ elbow grease so so that they too can receive an honor roll award–or get as close as possible.
Because while it’s fun to win, anything worth doing is worth the hard work, and hard work isn’t going to get anyone an average grade.
