singing at the islanders game

The boys school was offered the opportunity to sing the National Anthem at an Islanders home game. And although both boys tried out, only Jack made it. You can’t imagine the level of disapointment for Patrick (and long it went on for). Part of me (the mommy part) wanted to just ask the music teacher (who I adore) to just stick Patrick in there too. But the less emotional, rational side accepted that he didn’t get a spot and we would all just have to deal with it.

Be prepared, I’m whipping out the soap box for a minute here.

The way things are in school and well, really in life these days just pisses me off. The whole ‘everybody wins’ attitude is just beyond ridiculous. Not only does it totally denegrate the success of the ACTUAL winner and minimize the joy of winning (cause if everyone wins, who cares who the real winner is), it doesn’t give these kids a clue on how to deal with dissapointment in life. And life? It’s sometimes really dissapointing. There is really only ONE first place. That’s the way it is. If they gave everyone who raced in downhill in the Olympics the gold medal, what sense would that make? Did everyone win? Do you get an Olympic medal for trying your best?? Or showing up unprepared but everyone should feel bad for you and you should win anyway?  And if there is one job or one spot available for a college applicant- does everyone who applies get it? Do they make extra jobs or extra spots available just because you tried? Nope. So why should it be that way in school? Because of this nonsense, no one knows how to win graciously, without gloating, or without feeling guilty that everyone didn’t win. And certainly, no one knows how to lose. Everyone has a sense of entitlement that they SHOULD win, just cause they showed up. Sometimes even giving your best isn’t enough. And that’s life. Deal with it. And maybe we should let our kids know that too and stop shielding them from dissapointment cause it’s only coming back to bite them. As they grow up, they need to learn how to deal with not winning. Cause it’s gonna happen, probably more often than not.

Soapbox is back in the closet. Feel free to leave your thoughts in comments.

And here are some of the pictures from the singing. They aren’t great. They wouldn’t let me on the ice to get any shots, so I had to shoot from the other side of the ice through the scratched plexiglass and without a real zoom lens cause they don’t let you in with professional cameras with a serious zoom. So, here’s the best I got.

The kids all worked really hard and sounded great!

Daryl Strawberry was there accepting an award for his work with Autism.

It was a good game, but with no fights. Bummer cause that’s my favorite part!