Part of the "Not so Fun" Pageants

Several days ago, a friend commented about the negative things often associated with pageants. I immediately brought out my arsenal of positive things and explained the many joys of pageantry. But I have to concede that there can be negative things that happen at pageants.

People generally fall into two categories: they love pageants, or they think they are awful. If you ask a pro-pageant person about anything negative, they will usually respond just like I did. But in reality, that would be like saying everything about everyone's job is perfect. And we all know that nothing is perfect. But some things, we enjoy despite the imperfections.

I have "lost" many more pageants then I have ever won. Generally, I love the winners, and I see the wonderful qualities that the judges also saw in them. I "get" why they won. But I would be lying to say that I always celebrated another's victory. That would have been the right thing to do. But I have seen unprepared girls win, when many others work hard at getting ready for the competition; rude and unkind girls win, when others were gracious and friendly; and someone with no passion for a cause or no purpose, win simply to have another title, when other contestants were wonderful advocates for their cause. And I admit, it is hard to watch these girls be rewarded with the title, when I "thought" they were undeserving.

When I have won, I have also been the recipient of negative comments such as "It must have been fixed", "She's not very pretty, what were the judges thinking?" and "I don't understand how she won, she is too fat." After a pageant, I have had "friends" unfriend me on Facebook because they didn't win and I did. All these things have made me think very carefully about what I say to others about a pageant. And perhaps that is why so many pro-pageant people always say good things. We don't want to be perceived as poor sports, or even misquoted.

So after experiencing negative things, why would anyone do a pageant. I will reserve my "pageant positives" for another post. But everything happens for a reason, though I may not know it at the time. Every experience shapes me and makes me a better person, and I learn how to handle these things better. Those occasions when I have had more negative feelings than positives ones, I simply don't do pageants for awhile. They are optional. No one has to do a pageant. I do love the true story of a young lady who competed in a pageant as part of a college research project to show why pageants hurt women. Not only did she discover the opposite, but she won the pageant and returned to compete in other pageants after that. So if someone has negative feelings about pageants, don't do them. OR perhaps, you need to do more of them to discover yourself and develop appreciation skills. What shines brighter than any crown? A person shining with appreciation, gratitude and a loving spirit!