The Importance of Giving Awards

It may be tempting to put off or ignore the issue of recognition, particularly the conceiving and granting of awards, prizes, trophies, or plaques. I know it is said that our actions are their own reward – and this is true for the individual. But there is another side.

Awards are not given just for the sake of the recipient. They are given so that others can participate in the success of those who are deserving of praise. Like so much that we do in life, we do it for ourselves, as part of the whole of our community.

What is it that we get out of giving an award?

We live in a world where we are bombarded with negativity in the media and one in which our economy is driven by continual one-upmanship (or one upwomanship?).

We may be used to the idea that everyone (other than perhaps our closest family and friends) has an agenda; intending to persuade us, to sell us, to gain from us or use us in some way. We encounter this from organizations, from the media, from merchants and from many of the people we meet. Over time, we build up a defensiveness, a cynicism, that cloaks us like a shroud and shuts us off from the pure joy of being alive in the human experience.

To counter this, it is necessary to undertake activities that uplift the human spirit; that take us away from our focus on material issues and into the world of pure kindness, generosity and compassion. We enter this ‘world’ simply by shifting our attention, and setting our intention.

Awards such as the one proposed are tools to focus our attention on things that are beyond material issues. By such a focus they also remind us how desirable it is to lift ourselves out of the societal rut and contemplate those things that allow our humanity to shine.

Many of us will never get such an award - the busyness of everyday life lures us into a sort of mediocrity and the signals of the modern world keep us there. It is the few that manage to hold their heads (and their hearts) above the crowd and these serve as a beacon to the rest of us.

By finding and recognizing these people, we bask in the reflected glow of an open human heart. By giving an award to those deserving, we resonate with their energy, like a piano string takes up the frequency of the tuning fork. This is because in each of us there is that small spark, though it may be hidden, that glows through recognition and attention to its likeness.

We ignite our own spark by honoring the flame we see burning in the best of us, and by so doing, we become better ourselves, and so the glow becomes a light to the country and the world.

Why not give ourselves the gift of awarding a prize to another who deserves it?

I think we deserve to do it.

RevDarrellG