grace under fire

 

well my dear ones,

 

I was thinking the other day

about how easy it is to be gracious

when things are going our way.

It’s easy to be magnanimous

when all is going well for us,

but what about when they aren’t?

I think the real measure of a person

is how well they maintain composure

when things are as wrong as they can be.

 

If Denise Garrido had merely won

the Miss Universe Canada contest,

it would have been huge for her,

yet I’d not have thought much more about it.

But she was only queen for a day;

the next day, due to human error on scoring,

she was relieved of her crown,

and demoted to third runner up.

 

If she had raised a stink about it,

written a scathing article,

or filed a lawsuit against

the Miss Universe Canada organization,

then she’d have done the common thing,

and would have faded quickly into obscurity.

Instead, she demonstrated humility

and grace under fire.

 

It’s hard to imagine how this young woman felt;

to lose a contest is a hard thing

yet there can only be one winner;

to be that winner,

and then to have it taken away just a day later,

now that’s a hard thing.

 

In her own words,

“To have your crowning moment and to have

the victory party following the crowning,

it’s very unfortunate,” added Santos;

“It was obviously a shock,

but I’ve come to accept that

everything happens for a reason;

I was meant to go through this experience.

I was supposed to have that moment,

have that fulfillment of that moment

and then share it and give it back to Riza

(Riza Santos, who was named the actual winner),

who deserves it,”

 

“It’s devastating when you think you’ve got something

and you end up not having it anymore...

(but), I was able to have the moment

that I’ve always dreamed of.

I had it for 24 hours

so I have to be grateful for that.”

 

Crown or no crown,

she’s a class act in my book,

and a great example of how to behave

when things go wrong.

 

 

Have a great week!  =)

 

grace, peace, and love to you,

dave