In love and war

'All's fair in love and war,' but what about at the fair?  I've been entering stuff at the fair (baked goods, plants, flowers, photos…) for as long as I can remember, but I still think predicting the weather is a whole lot easier than determining how any given item will do any given year for any given person.  This year especially was a little weird, my now 4 year old actually had a few things to enter along with my usual junk.  I entered some of the best pictures I had ever taken, but came away with little to show for my efforts (versus last year where I did very well with less stellar photos) whereas somehow a certain small person walked away with a grand champion in the youth baking division, I feel rather bad for the twelve year old he bested, but then a 14 year old took grand champion in photography (in the adult division) so I guess I know how the kid feels!  I'm not sure what the answer is though, as we have so few entries that having more than 2 age divisions is about impossible but having a 4 year old compete against a twelve year old and a 14 year old compete against an octogenarian is a little silly, especially when it comes to giving the youngsters a little edge in each group, you can't do that without disappointing the oldsters a little, regardless of age, be they 12 or 78!

But then all should remember this is just for fun, we should laugh at the incongruities and at ourselves, and just do our best and be content in knowing we did a good job, and not really care what anyone else thinks, especially when it means some kid gets a big purple ribbon and a little pat on the back for a job well done, even if it wasn't quite as good as that other photo or flower or bread done by the person with decades of experience, but for their age and experience it was well done indeed!  That sort of bias I can live with, especially when it is little old ladies (read grandmas) who are doing all the work/judging, they just can't help themselves.  It is the political bias, basing the outcome on the name rather than the work, that really frustrates me.  The county fair in our previous county did that, I only entered one year, and after I discovered how things worked in that county, I didn't bother with it thereafter, it was too much work and all vain.  I don't mind losing if there are better competitors, or even younger competitors with a good (for their age) exhibit, but when the mediocre and pathetic are winning left and right because the person who entered the project has a certain name, then there is no point in us nobodies even trying.

It reminds me of that story out of the 'All Creatures Great and Small' books by James Herriot, when he is asked to judge the pet show at the county fair.  He talks to each exhibitor, looks at each animal, and then decides that a goldfish, owned by a little boy of no great name, is the winner because he knew all about fish keeping whereas the other children really hadn't a clue.  You can imagine how the parents reacted!  I guess not much has changed in the last hundred years, or even throughout all of human history, just look at how the parents react in any children's sporting event!