Lowering the bar/LD

[rides2far@juno.com (Angela C. McGhee)]

Beautifully stated.  Well said.  Bravo, touche'  I've been against
"participation trophies" at my child's recreation center.  Last year, at
the end of the year, there was a trophy extra..."Who's is this?"  Oh,
that was for the little girl who came to one practice and cried and
didn't come back...we'll take it to her!"  UG! 

Angie McGhee and Kaboot (No, we got pulled, we don't need a T-Shirt) 

><< But, frankly, I've lost patience with the perrenial demands of a 
>few 25
>mile
> riders to be *given* the recognition of being an endurance rider, 
>without
>doing
> what is required to earn it.  So I no longer care if I hurt their 
>feelings.
> They are trying to cheapen the achievements of every one of the 
>thousands of
> real endurance riders and horses by demanding that a 25 mile ride be 
>counted
>as
> an endurance ride. >>
>
>     and am writing to tell you what a man as obviously intelligent as
>yourself has doubtless already figured out from reading some of the 
>posted
>responses to your letter.  (I can also write a pretty good run-on 
>sentence
>given just half a chance . . . .) And that is . . . you are shouting 
>into the
>wind my friend.  We live in a country in which "Achievement" has been
>redefined to mean "lowering the bar" far enough that even the mediocre 
>can
>pretend  to ability--and show you their award to prove the fact.  That 
>the
>trophy helps them delude themselves seems to matter not in the least.  
>The
>attitude pervades our culture.  
>     There was a time when Standards of Achievement . . . and their 
>inherrant
>or man made awards . . . had meaning in this country.  When most 
>people
>understood that high standards MEANT that MOST people would not reach 
>the goal
>. . . that perhaps, feelings would be hurt by this . . . but that 
>there was no
>way around the fact, if the focus, pain, drive, ability or whatever 
>carried
>the victor to his goal were to have any meaning at all, and to hold 
>the honor
>it ought.  Some people might even be handicapped in some such way that 
>they
>would have no chance of ever reaching a certain goal, no matter how 
>hard they
>tried--too bad.  No one ever promised any of us life was made to be 
>"fair."
>Ah, but by the gods we do try to correct that oversight through 
>legislation
>and a million other devices, don't we?  If evolution worked on this 
>principle,
>we'd all still be amoebas, folks. 
>     I have not yet ridden in an endurance ride--though I've enjoyed 
>this list
>for over a year now.  I have ridden 50 miles in a day, many, many 
>times . . .
>it is a favorite way to kill a summer afternoon, trotting with a 
>friend to a
>town 25 miles from here, to get an ice-cream cone at the dairy shop 
>there, and
>trotting home again.  Is this endurance riding?  In no way, shape, or 
>form.
>There is no challenge, I've tested nothing . . . it is a lark, a fun
>triviality.  It is a long ride, granted, and Linda and I have often 
>not
>arrived home til well after the midnight hour.  
>     When I do start distance riding, I think I'd like to go for the 
>100
>milers right at the outset.  I don't know, I've been told by folks who 
>have
>been there that this might not be the wisest course . . .I may do my 
>horse
>more favors by starting with the 50's.  I will say, if I do any 
>distance less
>than 50, in my own heart and in my mind, I've been on a jaunt, not an
>endurance ride.  I'm iffy about those 50's--I've done 50 miles, not in 
>a race,
>granted, but I do have some idea of the distance . . . it really ain't 
>that
>hard.  Now 100 . . . that might be a test.
>    And what always astonishes me about people, is how few realize 
>that the
>real danger in lowering high standards, in making awards more a 
>"touchy-feely"
>thing than any kind of a real measure of superior ability . . . is not 
>what it
>does to the meaning of the award, not the belittling it does to the 
>pain and
>effort of those who actually did achieve a thing . . . the real 
>danger, the
>real shame, is what it does to hinder the growth of character in those 
>who
>bask in false pride.  I mean no insult to anyone; but this is how I 
>feel.  I
>have seen it. 
>    For myself, I would far rather attempt a thing and fail . . . than 
>be
>given a meaningless trophy.  You see, I understand, that the highest 
>reward
>for a person's effort is not what they get for it, but what they 
>become by it.
>    Fine . . . I've said enough.  Too much, probably.  Back to 
>lurking, for
>me.
>
>"Aim at heaven and you may get earth thrown in.  Aim at earth, and you 
>will
>get neither." -c.s. lewis-
>
>Trish & "pretty David" (who says, "when you said 100's, you were 
>refering to
>feet, weren't you mom?")
>
>

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