WEDNESDAY THOUGHTS: AWARDS

Mother Teresa. 

A. Phillip Randolph. 

The crew of Apollo 13. 

Margaret Thatcher. 

Aretha Franklin.

They were all recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. 

I’m convinced that someone thought it would be good television to baffle, bewilder, deceive, and further amaze people on Rosa Parks’ birthday...during Black History Month. 

That’s it. I must have been watching a show; a movie; a farce. 

This swamp-draining drama is very entertaining. There hasn’t been such obvious disdain of a character since J.R. Ewing. 

The paper ripping scene was so realistic! 

I wonder if the alternative script was too violent for prime time.

The audacity is certainly historic. 

Favor really isn’t fair, and compromised people really do know how to bootlick. 

(I think they all go home, drink, and cry). 

So many fearful, hardened hearts, guilty consciences, and sold souls in one room, applauding like trained seals would be hilarious if it wasn’t so painfully sad. Integrity and discernment  CAN be bought; ignorance and hatred can be rewarded. 

WHO rewards you, though, matters greatly, and determines whether you should be proud, or feel like a sucker.

Appointments and awards abound on this swamp-draining show. 

Every time you turn around, there’s a new one that’s designed to answer perceived deficiencies in an old one. 

You hope the aim is to promote standards, competence, and excellence. 

Some, unfortunately, are mere hustles; money makers that promote mediocrity in order to line the pockets of those who know how to manipulate egos and the insecure. 

Some awards are bribes. 

Some are to correct past wrongs and snubs. 

Some are rigged; fixed; political and shrouded in controversy and bigotry. 

Some are exclusive. 

Some are given in jest; others to infuriate or push an agenda. 

Some are worthless and merely for show. 

Some are to shine light on, and elevate the status of the giver or an organization, as opposed to the recipient. 

Given haphazardly, thoughtlessly, unfairly, or underhandedly, causes the value of an award to diminish. 

Once respected, coveted awards lose all credibility, value, and meaning when given deceitfully. 

Tiffany Haddish was right. Anyone can have a trophy made if they just want to have one.

Where is the honor if anyone is eligible to receive an award, whether they deserve it or not; when more obviously deserving candidates are in plain sight? Even recipients should know when they’re being used to minimize or make a mockery of a thing. 

Who’s ever proud of being a party to a sham? 

Being recognized for what you do is an honor, but do you really want something you don’t deserve and didn’t earn (other than God’s grace)? 

How arrogant, ruthless, and delusional do you have to be? 

Look around. Who’s in your circle and who’s the ringleader putting you on a pedestal? Are THEY qualified, respected and sincere, or are they using you to needle someone else? 

Who wants an award that’s a sympathy move, an afterthought, a slap in the faces of every other recipient, or a joke?

Someone with unchecked power, decided to bestow an award designed to recognize “an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural, or other significant public or private endeavors” to someone who deserved it as much as a hollow tree. 

I suppose he’s entitled to his opinion of what’s "meritorious". 

The award may as well be a Cracker Jack prize. 

I wonder what else will be cheapened before this show’s all done. 

So far, it’s playing like a bad dream, but Black people have seen iterations of this show before.

Suddenly I feel like singing “By and By”. 

Though I am neither discouraged nor anxious, I do anticipate the return of the lesser exciting and entertaining, but absolutely welcome Justice, Integrity, and Common Sense.