Celebrate the Person

One of my favorite days of the year just so happens to be the day I was born. While there are many great parts to this day, the best is the overall idea of celebrating a person and all they have done in their years. From baking a cake to giving presents to singing a special song, friends and family go out of their way to make a birthday special for their loved one. Our thought process shifts to how we can make the day enjoyable for them.

What if we carried this mindset throughout the year instead of just on one day?

Many people can feel overworked and underappreciated. When we focus on the great qualities they bring, we can avoid these feelings and inspire people instead. This could lead them to working even harder or being even happier.

I’m not saying we need to bake cakes every day or buy expensive gifts, but we can show our appreciation of others by celebrating them more often. This may be anything from a compliment to a simple card that shows people we care. Our actions are also a great tool to let people feel valued. This can be especially important in the society media surrounds us in. Today, we are constantly flooded with media influence that tells us what “successful” people look like. More often than not, we are told to measure this in materialistic things. Here is where the problem lies. We tend to get so caught up in celebrating people’s accomplishments that we forget to celebrate them as people. It can be so easy to focus on every FFA CDE, athletic letter, or scholarship people win. Maybe it’s a role in a musical or an FFA office. The list could go on forever, but the bottom line is to not focus on these accomplishments alone.

We need to remember to celebrate people for who they are, not what they have.

While the awards we receive are great ways to continue striving for success, they do not define who we are. Yes, we should celebrate these accomplishments, but we cannot let them overshadow the person working to achieve them. Even when we fall short of achieving a goal, we still have value and importance. The same is true for others, and we need to remind them of it.

A trophy is just an empty cup filled with the personality and hard work of the one who earned it. Some of the biggest winners don’t have a ribbon or certificate or trophy. How cool would it be if it felt like your birthday more than once a year just because that’s how often people were celebrating you? Let’s focus less on the awards and more on the people.

Celebrate the person.

Forever Celebrating You,

Elizabeth Meyer

2016-2017 Kansas FFA State President