Finding Strength in Defeat
I have participated in many Taiwanese speech contests and have never been beaten until three years after I began giving speeches.
In the first year, I took part in the speech contest which was held by my town. I won first place in the contest. The next year, I won first place again.
In the third year, everyone was confident that I would win the prize, however…
The list of winners did not have my name on it.
As I saw the list, I felt as if a knife was piercing my heart.
A negative thought hit me all of a sudden. Reading Taiwanese aloud did not mean anything to me anymore. I decided that I wasn’t going to practice any more.
My teacher said “A contest is simply an experience of your life and losing is not the end of your life. What you have learned during the process is more important than the result.”
My teacher said “Forget about the contest since you are already the best in my eyes.” His words were an encouragement to me.
This was my first time to suffer from frustration and also the first time to experience and understand how much courage I needed when I encountered frustration. The following days, I was upset and looked down on myself. I was afraid of anyone talking about the contest in which I was defeated.
Two weeks passed and I was getting back to normal with everyone’s encouragement and was even able to challenge myself to learn advanced Taiwanese and give another speech.
This time I lost but I was thankful to have a chance to learn from my frustration.
My courage was strengthened by this event and I learned that life is not always perfect. However, courage helps us to overcome the frustration.
學校名稱：北港分校
學生姓名：Samuel H.J. Tsai (蔡泓儒)
就讀期數：S217
指導老師：Lydia林怡伶
得獎殊榮：F級創作小書比賽〝優等〞獎項
