A ‘Thank You’ recognition – one that I still value – rather than an ‘Award.
It’s a simple fact of life that, buried deep within the psyche of some – but much closer to the surface in others – is the desire to be recognised as a person whose life and accomplishments have made a difference to our respective views of society and our role in its development. And there’s no better way of announcing one’s achievements to the world – or any particular aspect of it – than to be awarded an honour acknowledging the fact.
Which is fine in the early stages of euphoria – while the champagne and beer are still flowing, and toadying individuals are fighting among themselves to be the first to pat the recipient on the back and say things like, “So well deserved.”; remarks that quickly turn to sawdust in the mouth when it’s realised that acknowledgement of one’s actions and achievements by one’s peers can be a curse as well as a blessing.
If you happen to have won the lottery and topped up your bank account by several million dollars, then you’d probably prefer to remain anonymous rather than be inundated with requests to ‘share the wealth’. Particularly if the requests came from distant cousins, former friends, or – especially – work colleagues prepared to swear, on oath, that you’d agreed to share any winnings with the entire department of twenty-three undeserving, lazy, and inarticulate individuals, who might otherwise accuse you of reneging on the supposed deal.
On the other hand, receiving recognition for simply turning up at work and carrying out a job for which you have been paid has, seemingly, become the norm. In that regard, community, trade, scientific, arts, and academic awards have spawned an industry based on presenting glass and plastic trophies to anyone who, having the physical agility, diving knowledge, and mental I.Q. of a retarded earthworm, demand and expect acknowledgement for coming second in the equivalent of a two-person race.
Rather than accepting that somebody always has to come ‘last’ – or fails to measure up to the criteria demanded of a potential award recipient, one who is truly worthy of industry recognition – there would seem to be a growing trend among some dive event organisers of bestowing Awards and trophies on everyone and anyone. A practice that bears remarkable similarities to the breakfast cereal manufacturers of old who once included a plastic toy hidden among the cornflakes to promote their product and give a boost to sales.
(A fairly recent example of this trend was the event organiser who, during a tediously lengthy evening ‘ceremony’ – in front of an invited audience beguiled by the prospect of free food and drink – presented over two hundred Awards for … services to diving? Not that anyone present declined to accept their award, myself included. Mainly because an Award of whatever type, size and composition, but with your name engraved on it, is going to look better in a trophy cabinet than a small, plastic, ‘Paddington Bear’ figurine whose last gig was spent nuzzling up to a cluster of sugar-coated corn flakes.)
It’s productions like those that remove the gloss from the far more meaningful recognition of a worthy individual’s selfless contributions to diving: the honours awarded, for example, by government, or by those well-established and recognised organisations with strong industry ties – like, DEMA (the Dive Equipment & Marketing Association). Awards that, much like a massive lottery win, are usually entirely unexpected and come with no hidden strings attached.
Sadly, it often seems that rather than being a, “prestigious recognition …of those who have demonstrated exceptional merit, service, or achievement … and who, inspire others to strive for excellence …” – much like the Olympic ideal of recognising only the entire world’s best three athletes in any sporting endeavour – the sheer number of diving Awards proposed by some dive-related organisations have become nothing more than a useful business tool: one based on the, “more is better” philosophy, and whose primary purpose is to reflect credit on, and awareness of, the gifting organisation – and, more especially, the presenter – than on the actions and achievements of even the most worthy of recipients.
We’re now not too far removed from a time when winners will outnumber everyone else at an Awards function, and where the term, ‘Diving Celebrity’ will become an outdated and meaningless term. Unfortunately, the genie’s now out of the bottle as far as Awards are concerned. And money that might have been more productively invested in scientific grants and support for, say, conservation efforts to help rid the world’s oceans of plastic waste, has been frittered away on hundreds of plastic trophies, doomed to gather dust in some forgotten corner of an office shelf.
In military parlance it would be classed as a F.U.B.A.R. Diving deserves better than that.
—ENDS—
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NEKTONIX 