Dear Fifth and Below

Dear Fifth and Below,

  I know you are disappointed that you didn’t break. I can imagine your face as you look through your ballots and don’t find the glowing reviews you had hoped for. Perhaps you are frustrated or a bit sad. You may even wonder if any of the effort you put into your speech was worth it. I understand your feelings because I’ve been there. I’ve wondered what the point of all this competition is if I never achieved my goals. If you don’t mind, I’d like to take a moment of your time and show you a part of competition that you may not always see. A part that I didn’t realize existed until I stopped giving the speeches and started judging them.

When I became a judge I learned that rankings can sometimes be random. That’s right, I said random.  There are three judges in a room and, although we do our best, I’m not going to say we are always correct in our assessment of your speaking. We get headaches, we get tired, and we sometimes even forget which speaker you were. If you ever become a judge you will probably do the same thing. I don’t tell you this to make you doubt every ballot you have ever received, but to point out that placing in an event really doesn’t mean as much as you may have thought it did. To a certain extend, wether or not you break is random. The impact you make is never random.

Competing is a lot of work. It takes endless hours of commitment and effort. Yet, for all the effort you put into your speeches, you probably won’t take first place. And even if you do, no one will remember that in a year or two. You will graduate, move on, and eventually even you will begin to forget which category you did the best in, or what your debate record at Nationals was. This may sound bleak, but it’s the truth. So why should you strive to perfect every speech, stay up late researching, and spend countless hours talking to a wall?

Because you are making an impact.

You probably don’t see it. You may not be impacting a crowd of thousands, or speaking to the world, but your voice spoke straight to my heart. Fifth and below, you gave me a message I desperately needed to hear. I was wondering if God even heard my cries, and you walked in with an explanation of what true love is. When I was frustrated with my failures, you came in and convicted me to always stand up for what I believe. You offered an argument so brilliantly thought out I am still in awe.  You made me laugh when I was so tired the only other option was to cry. You  made an impact and I know that for many of you high school is just the beginning. You are training right now to make an even larger impact in this world.

I walked through the halls on the last day of Nationals and saw face after face of people that had touched me, at this tournament or tournaments before. The funny thing is, most of them had no clue who I was. They didn’t realize that I could recite portions of their speech from memory or that the words they had spoken days ago were copied down in my journal. I don’t remember those people because they took first place. Right now I can’t even remember if they broke or not. I don’t remember them because of  how they did but because of what they did. I remember them because they touched me, convicted me, amused me, and blessed me beyond measure.

Are you wasting your time? If you are striving for first place, approval, or fun than yes you are. All those things will slowly pass away. But if you allow God to let you touch others, the impact you make stays long after your trophy is forgotten. For what it’s worth, this alumna doesn’t think you are wasting your time. She is grateful, convicted and blessed. And she wants you to keep going, striving for something so much more than a trophy.

Rankings can be random, but impact never is. I pray you remember that, even when you discover you are Fifth and Below.

~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~ 

Worship Song: 

"Yet Will I Sing",
by Audra Lynn