Posted on 02/14/2011 1:05:03 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
It is the ultimate accolade for a keen vegetable grower – a 73-year-old has been told not enter his village gardening competition because he is too good.
David Stirzaker has been asked by the organisers of the North Cadbury and District Horticultural Society, in Somerset, not to exhibit his produce at its annual show, because his impressive record at the event is discouraging others from taking part.
Mr Stirzaker – who has won 12 cups at the show in just four years, for his prize-winning carrots, parsnips and tomatoes – has pledged to take the matter to the Royal Horticultural Society.
"This is my hobby and I have been supporting their show for four years. I find the request very insulting – it is a competition so I would have thought it is down to other growers to try harder if they want to beat me," he said.
"I want nothing more to do with the society. I won't be showing there again and I have told them that they can come and collect their trophies."
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Maybe the guy is a jerk and telling him his vegetables are just too good is a way to get him to go away.
-PJ
That’s a good movie.
Socialists: Punishing excellence since...forever.
I’m not sure what’s worse... the idea that this is all the UK has to work on (despite creeping socialism and the muzzies), or the fact that the whole PC entitlement BS has infiltrated local gardening shows.
Either way, the UK is lost, it seems.
I did some stock photography for a landscaping sales company among many many other people. It worked out well for a couple of months. The guy wrote me one day that others were complaining that I did too well and possibly stealing content from elsewhere. I didn’t do much except using auto mode and a 70-200 Canon lens plus the odd PS bump or minor tweak. He thought I did very good.
It will be if we give up.
Only one man still participating? Womens’ lib going on here.
There must have been a time when there were other guys growing veggies........perhaps they have all gone to the big briar patch in the sky.
I don’t know how they’re judging but it seems it would be simple enough to have different levels of competition, ie beginners, experienced, advanced and masters.
Who would want to be judged “best” if they knew they were only awarded that title because the BEST stepped aside?
The lady to his right would “benefit” but the idea of competition and excellence would lose.
In this world of PC - you make too much sense;)
Hard to believe this is the country that devised Red, White and Blue Ribbon - Dog & Pony Shows.
The country that survived the Blitz.
Keep in mind that Aristotle is talking about two Greek words that may be more distinct in his context than the English words "envy" and "jealousy".
There is indeed a difference between seeing somebody with something nice and deciding "I'm going to have one of those too" versus "If I can't have one, then he should also be deprived of it".
Much of human progress probably came from people who were driven and competitive. I don't think Edison, Carnegie and Ford were party animals.
Give him a big Master Gardener Emeritus award or some such, and make him a judge for the competition going forward.
I don’t get the compulsion to be so competitive when you are in retirement
^^^
Retiring does not knock out one’s competitive spirit. Whatever I do, I want to do my very best. I have not the least bit of interest in working in my former field, but I go at my current activities with as much energy as I had put into my professional work.
That certainly sounds like a reasonable offer.
But if he truly likes the competition, I don’t see
why he should be excluded because he’s good at it.
Yet Envy is the only one that made it to Deadly Sin status. Jealousy is a natural emotion. Envy is evil.
Hay I’ve got an idea.
Why not just give the prize to the mediocre to begin with, then he can enter and have no chance of winning?
Strive to be mediocre, that’s the way to do it.
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