Taking the Good with the Bad

Today the girls competed in the 11 county Regional Congress for 4-H. Olivia presented her Political Awareness speech. She did a very good job and received many positive comments after her presentation, even one public educator telling her she wished all of her students could hear her speech.

There was only one other person competing against her, and his speech was good too (about hearing loss). Olivia placed second (or in this case last). Most of those around us, including our 4-H leader AND the boy that won, were pretty shocked that she did not win. After viewing the judges score sheets it was very obvious why she did not win. Two of the judges gave her high scores, one even gave her a 99 out of a possible 100. The other gave her an 88, her only comment was that Olivia's speech was too controversial. (uh??? kids need to be interested in their government, their constitution, education...controversial??? uh OK? ) Actually she didn't like Olivia mentioning, abortion, gun control, government control over education, etc... But she did give her a fair evaluation on her presentation, with an 88. But what gets us is the last judge, who gave her a 68. ?????? She would not even look at Olivia during the speech, and gave her low scores on topic and research. Ummmmm...could it be she is a liberal? I won't mention her skin color or gender, just incase that did not influence her.

Emma had her quilt entered, she did not place, but she was gracious about it, smiling and congratulating those that did win. :o) At least she is willing to learn and participate.

We were disappointed with the outcome today, but like I told Olivia, "You've got to take the good with the bad. If you are going to be in politics or the public eye in any way, you've got to have thick skin." Knowing how to receive criticism, even un-fair criticism, gracefully is VERY important! We did not come home with any blue ribbons today, we do not get to move on to the State level, BUT more important we did come home with some humility and a little stronger character. It was a good day!