After having participated in the recent Bazaar, and fully and wetly so, I have to say that it was indeed a memorable and meaningful experience.Having come to school bleary-eyed after foolishly staying up to catch a shockingly one-sided Champion's League final, the anticipation that precedes an actual dunking and the dunking itself certainly got the adrenaline pumping and kept me buzzing the whole day. Although it got a little bit irritating after the ninth or tenth time of splashing into the water and having to crawl out again, it was definitely a fun and etched-in-the-brain-for-some-time-to-come (no such word) experience.
At the same time, it was not all mindless fun, although it certainly looked that way! The only reason I even agreed to go up there and await a wet fate was because I knew that my class and I would be contributing some money to charity. I needed to put my money where my mouth was and play my part after my students had done such a great job in raising funds to pay for the over-priced dunking machine and in attracting customers to our stall. The approximately $500 that we raised, we hope, would go a long way to help the less fortunate. GREAT JOB, 1F!
At the same time, it was not all mindless fun, although it certainly looked that way! The only reason I even agreed to go up there and await a wet fate was because I knew that my class and I would be contributing some money to charity. I needed to put my money where my mouth was and play my part after my students had done such a great job in raising funds to pay for the over-priced dunking machine and in attracting customers to our stall. The approximately $500 that we raised, we hope, would go a long way to help the less fortunate. GREAT JOB, 1F!
I also learnt two important lessons from the experience.
It was amazing how many participants actually only hit the target on their VERY LAST throw. It did not matter how many tries they were given, it really went to the wire for a large number of them. Just when I thought the threat had passed and the student had given up, "THUMP"! Right on the bull's eye ... followed by a loud "SPLASH"! I guess that really highlighted the importance of trying and not losing heart; of keeping on without getting discouraged; of going again even through failures. So, lesson number one - if at first you don't succeed, try and try again ... eventually, you WILL get it right.
Lesson number two - refuse to let others affect your concentration and focus. Part of what makes the dunking such a thrill is the person on the dunking board taunting and distracting the person about to make that throw. That was why I was making so much noise and continually taunting those who were about to launch the ball at the target. The amazing thing was that it all actually worked. Those who allowed the taunts to get to them and convince them that they would not succeed really didn't! Of course, on the flip side, those who refused to listen or be distracted were also those who invariably did hit the target. That emphasised the importance of keeping one's focus and concentration and to be able to shut out all the unimportant and distracting noise.
At the end of the day, though, all that mattered was that all those involved, in big or small ways(or even in dry or wet conditions), played a part in making some kind of difference. That, I suppose, was all that mattered.
SPLASH!
