An Original Rambling: Participatory Ribbons

originally posted on my old goofiness.com website on January 31st 2001:

The ribbons we give our children for participating in competitions should be banned. The only Award for participating should be the Reward of participating, in doing something fun and new. You shouldn't get a ribbon for simply participating in the rope climb or high jump or 100 yard dash.

I am partly to blame for this. When I was in kindergarten, in a tiny Montana town, my school put on a small Olympics. We had dashes, jumps and throws. I didn't win any of them. When I didn't get a ribbon, I was upset. My folks decided that there should be participatory ribbons for all kids, so kids like me wouldn't feel so badly.  I'm not sure they are the ones responsible for this world wide trend, but at least in that small town, it's this blogging crybaby.

But, do we deserve participatory ribbons for just participating? If I work all day, read all night, and drive everywhere I go, should I expect to win a marathon on the weekend? Do I deserve a ribbon for simply participating? What about the guy who dedicated the last six months of his life to the race?  Shouldn't the winner get it all and the ribbon I get is the one where I say, "well, I ran a marathon; I took 500th place but I ran the whole thing!"