As I'm sure you all already know, I love show choir. It is my most favorite thing in the whole wide world. I don't think I'd be alive without it (Well, I would be, but what kind of life is that?). Anyway, this past weekend, the Kennedy Show Choirs traveled to Davenport, IA to compete at the Great River competition. Great River is easily the favorite of all competitions, mainly because of the performance venue. The theater holds nearly 2,500 people--easily our biggest competition (besides nationals). Besides that, Great River is a place where we are sure to get some healthy competition. Great River is our house. Before this year, we had won that competition for 7 consecutive years. And if this year taught us anything, it is that winning isn't everything. Sure, it is a heck of a lot better than losing, but I'd rather put on a damn good show and lose than win and still suck any day.
The main thing about show choir is that you cannot control the judges. My good friend, Adam Park Gold, touches on the topic of biast judges in his post "You cannot control the judges" on his blog. There is nothing truer than this statement, because ultimately the judges are the supreme deciding factors in the equation. If three judges have you in first place and one judge puts you in last, you're not going to win. It's just the way it is. Accepting this fact, trusting that we put on a great show, and walking away with a 3rd place trophy was only one of the many obstacles we will face this year. We went into the season hoping we'd be undefeated, unstoppable, invincible. And we are still Happiness Inc., America's Favorite Show Choir. But now we are Happiness Inc. with a new perspective on winning.
We don't need to win. Among many other things in life, winning is a want. It is not a need. We will survive and even thrive while still losing. Losing builds character, it leaves room to grow. But what we do need is support: support from our friends, our parents, and everyone in between. If no one is there to support us, there is no reason to perform. We need the cheers, the smiles, and the applause to go on. Without it, we are just a show choir. With it, we are entertainment. We are serving the needs of others while they are serving our needs. That is why we need support from people we love. There is no better feeling than looking out into the audience, and among a crowd of strangers, seeing that one person, whether it be a parent, a sibling, a significant other, a relative, or a friend, that we just cannot live without. It feels great to know that as we perform our show, that one person has their eyes on us the entire time. It is motivating. It gives us the strength to move forward while we are fighting for more fuel and energy. It is that extra push that gets us through the finish line.
And that is why support is much more important than winning.
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