{"id":4605,"date":"2012-11-12T08:17:32","date_gmt":"2012-11-12T16:17:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/?p=4605"},"modified":"2012-11-12T08:17:32","modified_gmt":"2012-11-12T16:17:32","slug":"the-race-not-to-the-swift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/2012\/11\/12\/the-race-not-to-the-swift\/","title":{"rendered":"The Race Not to the Swift"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"The non-winning “best” painting. Click for large view.<\/a><\/h6>\n

Speaking of ironies, here’s one often repeated, particularly when we think we were the one that should have won but didn’t.<\/p>\n

Here’s the full passage:<\/p>\n

The race is not to the swift<\/strong>
\n or the battle to the strong,<\/strong>
\nnor does food come to the wise<\/strong>
\n or wealth to the brilliant<\/strong>
\n or favor to the learned,<\/strong>
\nbut time and chance happen to them all.<\/strong>*<\/p>\n

Once I participated in a \u201cQuick Draw\u201d competition. That’s where artists work against the clock to make a painting. Most went off and did a landscape; I, and about a dozen others, chose to do a figure study\u2014a draped model. We had two hours. As painting is solitary work, few of us knew how anyone else was doing. When time was up, it was apparent to just about everyone that mine turned out the superior work. I was grateful, particularly as I’d not been so confident in the process; but it had come together in the end.<\/p>\n

When the judging was announced, one of the other figure painters was awarded third prize. I’d seen the painting. Pretty poor, I thought, so I began to mentally prepare my acceptance speech. The second prize was awarded to a landscape painter. By then, with just one left, I was really ready to accept my prize. But, to my\u00a0chagrin, the first prize went to another landscaper.<\/p>\n

Refreshments followed. I had humble pie.<\/p>\n

I was consoled as when people saw my painting many said, \u201cThat one should have won.\u201d That, in fact, became my reward. I realized it was better to not have won but to be reputed as the real winner than to have won, with a general\u00a0murmuring\u00a0that I shouldn’t have.<\/p>\n

Two years later I entered the same competition. That time I did not paint the best painting . . . and I did not win. So that approach doesn’t work either.<\/p>\n

Here’s the teaching: We can’t control outcomes. While the prize is usually to the best, there are always more complexities at work. We might call it luck, good and bad. Or as Qohelet calls it, \u201ctime and chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Time<\/em>\u00a0we understand. The right solution at the wrong time is not the right solution. But chance<\/em>? Where does that come in? We thought it was an ordered universe with predictable outcomes. Without that how would science be science, and mathematics the purest system?<\/p>\n

Obviously there’s always more than meets the eye.<\/p>\n

Survival isn’t always to the fittest.<\/p>\n

And when we’re not always in that category, “time and chance” is another thing we can be grateful for.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

___________________<\/p>\n

*Ecclesiastes 9:11<\/p>\n

For more art, and friendship, come to our annual open house. It’s this coming weekend. Click here for details:\u00a0House Show 11’12<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you ever lost when you should have won? It happens. (Sometimes it’s the opposite, too.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4605"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4605"}],"version-history":[{"count":36,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5003,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4605\/revisions\/5003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}