Why Do It?

by Michele Boy | October 5, 2023

I spent last Sunday on the couch. I literally did nothing except watch a season of a baking competition show with my daughter. 
I kept smiling and laughing at how happy I was to do absolutely nothing. 
It felt wonderful. 
 The push to get to the Kansas Junior Livestock Show was intense. My husband planted wheat from the early morning hours to late at night. I worked, sheared a couple sheep, and after picking up my daughter from school, left her to shear one. 
Two ended up staying home because we ran out of time. 
I was up at 3:30 AM on Friday morning to get us going. We left in the dark and rushed to get checked in at the Kansas State Fairgrounds in Hutchinson. 
 She didn’t come away with any big wins and we have been showing for several years now. 
  Some people may ask why do it then? 
 Well she has learned at every show. She has grown. She is trememndously further than when we started. 
Her love and care of sheep has given her a strong work ethic, a love of animals, and a bit more self confidence.
  What about you? 
Is there something you or your child is working on and you don’t see the progress? 
It is hard sometimes but every time you step in the ring, step up to the plate, take a chance, you are one step further to that goal. 
But what is the goal? For some it is to be the champion, the best. For others it is to finish. 
For me it is to continue to see progress, to gain skills, build more family memories, and to continue to move upward. 
 Our goals have gone from not last, to try to get to the middle of the pack, to try to get into the showmanship finals. 
 When watching the  baking competition series, the contestant that missed the final three was discouraged. But my daughter chimed in and said, “Mom, she made the top four!”
I smiled. 
How we view our successes and failures shapes how we grow. 
I am sure I have shared this story before but it is worth repeating. 
 I will never forget her first show where she placed dead last every class.
 The last class of the day. after someone helped us clean up the poor shearing job I had done on her sheep, the judge asked her if she was having fun. She said yes.
 Who we are is shaped by how we act when we are not winning.  Do I want her to win? Yes, very much. 
But would I trade all the lessons and character building that has come from losing? Honestly, no.
  Who are you when the chips are down? Do we still say that? 
 Are you grabbing the lessons offered? Striving for more is awesome and I hope you win it all someday. But if you walk in and win, did you gain anything? 
I saw a video where a young girl was selling her lamb at the county auction and donating all the proceeds to her best friend who has congenital muscular distrophy. She raised $36,000. to help her get a standup wheelchair. I have no idea if she was the grand champion at her fair. But to me she is a grand champion. 
 This is National 4-H week. While the goals, lessons, and attitudes can be applied to sports, work, relationships, I want to take a moment to say that 4-H has worked for our family. 4-H has been about working with groups of people we don’t always see eye to eye with. Working through situations, learning how to sew, cook, show an animal, draw, paint, shoot targets, and more..
 4-H isn’t just about animals. Like everything, you get out what you put into it. 
 If you are interested in 4-H ask a 4-Her, come to Project Fair on October 13. (Details on page 10.)
   So what goal are you headed towards? 
Have you stopped to think about the steps you have already taken? How the setbacks shaped you?
From the poem Ithaka by Constantine P. Cavafy - 
“As you set out for Ithaka
hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery...
Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you’re destined for.
But don’t hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years”