Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.
 |
| Image: All Rights Reserved |
| New York : Arthur A. Levine Books |
| 2000 |
Cedric was standing feet from the Triwizard Cup, which was gleaming behind him.
“Take it, then” Harry panted to Cedric. “Go on, take it. You’re there.”
But Cedric didn’t move. He merely stood there, looking at Harry. Then he turned to stare at the Cup. Harry saw the longing expression on his face in its golden light. Cedric looked around at Harry again, who was now holding onto the hedge to support himself. Cedric took a deep breath.
“You take it. You should win. That’s twice you’ve saved my neck in there.”
“That’s not how it’s supposed to work,” Harry said. He felt angry; his leg was painful, he was aching all over from trying to throw off the spider, and after all his efforts, Cedric had beaten him to it, just as he’d beaten Harry to ask Cho to the ball. “The one who reaches the Cup first gets the points. That’s you. I’m telling you, I’m not going to win any races on this leg.”
Cedric took a few paces nearer to the stunned spider, away from the cup, shaking his head.
“No,” he said.
“Stop being noble,” said Harry irritably. “Just take it, then we can get out of here.”
Cedric watched Harry steadying himself, holding tight to the hedge.
“You told me about the dragons,” Cedric said. “I would’ve gone down in the first task if you hadn’t told me what was coming.”
“I had help on that, too,” Harry snapped, trying to mop up his bloody leg with his robes. “You helped me with the egg–we’re square.”
“I had help on the egg in the first place,” said Cedric.
“We’re still square,” said Harry, testing his leg gingerly; it shook violently as he put his weight on it; he had sprained his ankle when the spider had dropped on him.
“You should’ve got more points on the second task,” said Cedric mulishly. “You stayed behind to get all the hostages. I should’ve done that.”
“I was the only one who was thick enough to take that song seriously!” said Harry bitterly. “Just take the Cup!”
“No,” said Cedric.
Extract from the book Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
By J. K. Rowling
All Rights Reserved.
New York : Arthur A. Levine Books, c2000
Call Number: J English ROW
Extract contributed by Aleysa Shaeba John from Tanjong Katong Girls’ School
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Would you be willing to give up your chance to win a prize if someone else deserved it more than you did?
August 13th, 2011 at 3:00 pm
Winning is about fairness. Even if you won, by doing some actions unfairly or cheating, you would not feel the wonderful feelings in your heart. The world is about fairness.
Therefore, If I don’t deserve the prize (by cheating), I will give it up.
August 13th, 2011 at 5:37 pm
In a perfect scenario, the most deserving person should get the prize. However,due to some factors,this is not always the case.
Though I’ll feel a twinge of disappointment, this is the right thing to do. Hence it should be done.
It is not about feeling superior after the act or fulfilling others’ expectations. It is about doing the right thing in an appropriate manner.
August 13th, 2011 at 7:24 pm
Indeed, winning is not everything, as most people say. But we, as generally impulsive human beings, sometimes selfishly feel the need to win.
In schools to even workplaces, there is a sense of competitiveness. A need to get all A* and a need to get promoted to a higher paying position….It makes us feel better, regardless of whether we deserve them or not.
However, as the extract from Harry Potter mentioned, we should aim to be like Cedric, who didn’t think he was as deserving as Harry. Therefore, if we are selfless and thoughtful enough, we should and we can let the most deserving person win.
August 13th, 2011 at 10:01 pm
Certainly, winning is not everything. Everybody has a desire to be the top and the best, it comes to us naturally as we do not want to lose face in front of others, or be ranked as the bottom few. Winning not only brings us mental satisfaction, it boosts our confidence and proves our ability which encourages us to improve. Winning is the result of our effort, however, if the effort is not the full commitment from oneself but through illegal methods or approach that is against moral values, the victory is of no value. The process is the most important learning progress to enable us to not only win once, but keep winning. Sometimes, failure is vital to prevent arrogance and allow us to reflect ourselves. At the same time, we learn to accept failure and pull oneself together. Therefore we should not see winning as everything and only thing.
August 13th, 2011 at 11:03 pm
I will give up the prize is someone is more deserve to get it. Winning is not everything, it is the process that gets you motivated towards a goal. It builds up a person’s patience,tolerance and determination. I will say I enjoy this process.
August 15th, 2011 at 4:02 pm
Of course I would give up the prize. We need to give in to other people. Even if I knew I deserved it I would still give it up because I know it is the right thing to do. And the other person would never forget.
August 16th, 2011 at 2:00 pm
In one point of view, I would say if the other person is more deserving than me, he should get what he deserved. But if I am selected for the prize and then asked to give up, I would definitely feel sad and bad to give away what reached my hands and what made me feel so high and encouraging even though I believe that the other person is more talented than me. I really appreciate all those who had written that they would give up happily.
August 18th, 2011 at 12:03 pm
Whether a person is more deserving of a prize is very subjective. How does one justify that someone deserves the prize more than the other?
In the case of Harry and Cedric, Harry appears more deserving of winning in the eyes of those who value highly his virtues of generosity and big-heartedness whereas Cedric seems more deserving to those who place greater emphasis on the outcome more than the process. In a way, one may even argue that Cedric is more deserving because he has a moral compass when he did not want to take the cup as he felt he was not as deserving of it due to having been helped by Harry. Harry made his choices in the game out of his own volition. So did Cedric who played by the rules, albeit with assistance. Who, then, is more deserving?
Winning is also subjective. By wanting to give up the prize to Harry whom he thinks is more deserving, Cedric is also a winner, isn’t it? His prize may not be the cup but something intangible like being at ease with his conscience. So, both are winners in their own right!
August 24th, 2011 at 9:27 pm
When we take part in a competition, the important thing is to participate in it, and complete it. It does not matter if you win or lose, and the prize should go to the one who performed the best, not the one who managed to win through underhand means. If someone else deserves the prize more than me, I will definitely give it to him/her.
August 28th, 2011 at 2:45 pm
If someone else is more deserving of the prize, I will gladly give it up since I can always have win the same honour in the future. Personally, I have won in a lot of competitions and have come to realize that the journey is indeed the destination.
When you put your heart into practice and perfection, no matter the outcome, know that you have done the best. It may very well be an unlucky day for you, or the judge don’t like your face. Who knows the reason for you not winning!
What is important is that you get to collapse into bed at night tired with joy & satisfaction that you have done the right thing!
August 30th, 2011 at 9:57 pm
Winning in itself is a very superficial word, just to win is nothing great, but what we all seek is what we get from winning. It could be the satisfaction of achievement after going through much trouble, the glory from all as victor, or simply knowing that you were the best, deep down in your heart. By giving up the prize to someone who deserved it more, you do not lose. You won, for you get the satisfaction of doing something right, you wonfrom the glory you receive from people for your benevolence, you won for you know that you were the best, you won for you know you had beaten him. So when you gave up a chance to win a prize to someone you think deserve more to win, you were greater than him. You had won.
August 30th, 2011 at 10:45 pm
I do not agree that “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” It is not true, winning isn’t everything, but its not the only thing either. Whether it is a game, or a competition, the most important thing is not winning, it’s about the participation in the activity. Its not about the results, but about the process and partially the completion. Of course it seems only human to want to win, and even when we know winning isn’t the most important thing, somewhere deep inside us we still have the desire to win.
I feel that if you won fair and square, no tricks done, you do deserve the prize. Of course if one has pulled strings and played dirty to reach the top, he does not deserve it at all. Putting your all into a task, one would be able to get good results, but just doing slipshod work will not get one anywhere.
August 31st, 2011 at 3:03 am
Even if I did it grudgingly, I would definitely still give up the prize. The person is more deserving of it, having put in more effort and well, he won fair and square. Competing is not only about winning, it also is about sportsmanship. And what a show of sportsmanship it would be, to give in graciously. People will show respect to you.
Stubbornly holding on to something you are not worthy of reflects on your character, and this will not leave a good impression on others.
Of course, I myself probably won’t be happy about having to give the prize up, but it’s all part and parcel of life to accept defeat and just learn from the mistakes. Anyway, if we succeed too early, what more is there for us to learn? The more failures, the more the lessons, and the greater the joy in the eventual success.
August 31st, 2011 at 11:24 pm
Winning isn’t everything, winning isn’t the only thing! It is often not whether if we win or lose but rather how we played and competed, and the most important thing is not winning but taking part, the process that we do or participate in. We only win after we gained something special in the midst of doing it, the friendship we built, the valuable experience we get. Yes, winning is indeed what everyone participate and thus, aim to achieve but to win is just a bonus, not everything and certainly not the only thing.
November 24th, 2011 at 4:16 pm
I would because life is not all about winning and
I would be happy!!!!!!!!
August 9th, 2012 at 9:53 am
In my opinion, winning isn’t everything. As a Chinese saying goes,friendship first, competition second. What good does it do if someone wins a competition but loses his friends in the process? Winning should not come at the expense of other, more important things. If winning was everything, then people would forsake their morals and take drugs to boost their performance at sporting events, devaluing the win. If found out, they will also be disgraced. The sportsman himself would not feel like he had rightfully won the event, as he cheated. Therefore, winning isn’t everything.
August 10th, 2012 at 1:50 pm
I would be willing to give up my chance to win a prize if someone else deserved it more than I did. Winning is not everything, it is okay if I lose. I do not deserve the prize if I did not rely on myself to win. However, it is hard to define who is the ultimate winner who deserves the prize. In Harry and Cedric’s case, some people may argue that Harry deserves the prize more because he helped Cedric to get through all the challenges and reach the finishing point. If he had not helped Cedric, he would be disqualified at the first task and would not have been able to reach this far. Harry also stayed to rescue all the hostages in the second task, hence causing him to reach later than Cedric. Although he did not reach the cup first, he helped many along the way and sacrificed his chance to win for others. Because of this, Harry deserves the prize more than Cedric. On the other hand, others may argue that Cedric deserves it more because he is the one who reached the finishing point first and that is definition of the winner. However, I believe that the true definition of a winner is one who sacrifices himself for others, just like Harry. Thus, if I were Cedric, I would have given Harry the prize because he deserved it more. However, in the situation that they were in, Cedric should have taken the cup to get themselves out of the situation quickly as Harry was injured and could not get it. After all, winning is not everything. The cup is only a superficial token to award the winner. As long as they know that Harry is the ultimate winner who deserves the prize, it does not matter who gets the prize.
August 11th, 2012 at 12:21 am
I would say that winning is a very subjective issue, and whether or not would I give up a chance to win a prize depends much on the situation itself. For most, winning a prize is a testimony to all that they have done, a acknowledgement to their success. For some, it may not be that important as they value the experience they went through in pursuing success which is represented by a prize. What I feel is that it all boils down to how much effort one has put towards winning the prize, though there are other considerations. I would give up my chance to win for someone who deserves it more regardless of my own pursuit for achievement. In the Goblet Of Fire, Cedric clearly had a better chance at winning the Triwizard Cup than Harry, being a seventh year with more experience and knowledge. Harry, on the other hand, tried hard at winning the Cup despite knowing that he was the underdog. Furthermore, though he valued winning, he also valued helping out his friends such as helping out Cedric who was trapped and almost swallowed into the maze or telling Cedric about the dragons they would face in their first task,even though it may be detrimental to his chances of winning. Clearly, he deserved winning the tournament more as not only he has displayed effort and self-sacrifice and the fact that between him and Cedric, Cedric would not have a chance at winning at the last stretch of the maze if not for Harry’s rescue. Though, I would say that it also matters that Cedric needed it more, it would be a recognition to his efforts and what he stand for, the spirit of Hufflepuff and bring glory to his house which would be a first in a long time. Meanwhile, Harry though deserving of the prize, has received countless recognition throughout the series and would have eventually received the recognition and success he deserve. Ultimately, what we need to learn is that winning is not everything. It may seem right that the most deserving should get the prize, but upon further consideration someone might need it more, and he too has put in considerable effort for it. In life, it is not perfect and always fair, the most deserving do not always get the prize but it is the one who wants it the most, who would take any chance will succeed.