"Its not the critic who counts: not the man who
points out how the strong man stumbles or when the doer of deeds could have
done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena,
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who
errs and comes up short again and again.. Who spends himself in a worthy cause;
who at best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high acheivement, and who at
worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring
greatly..."

-Theodore Roosevelt

Reading this quote, the first thing that came to my mind was caroling. yes. caroling that ended yesterday. The caroling season have been a hectic one, and well, we have been through the spectrum from the best experience to the worst experience. Let me explain why the quote reminded me of caroling.

1. Its not the critic that counts.
   
   How true. The teacher always reminded us, that our performances should not be determined by the reponse of the audience, but it's always a standard that we set for ourselves, and its always for God, cause we sing for his glory, and we sing to spread the joy of his coming.
   
2. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred with by dust and sweat, who strives valiantly...
   
   Well, the caroling season wasn't a smooth sailing one. It was tiring, so much to learn and improve after every performance and its physically and mentally demanding. Be it fatigue, sickness, or things that disappoint or affect us, we rose above them and strives with the determination to make the next performance better.
   
3. who errs and comes up short again and again.
   
   we have been rather inconsistent actually. Not a very good thing actually, but everything after we make a mistake, we strives to make sure we improve on it the next performance, be it vocal techniques, performing, that particular phrasing, pitch. We tried to improve every performance.
   
4. who spends himself in a worthy cause.
   
   caroling is a worthy cause. We sing for God! Share the joy of Christ coming through music. We perform well so that our future generations can sing in the same place in future. We sing to achieve the standards we set for ourselves.
   
5. who at best, knows in the end, the triumph of high achievement..
   
   well, we know it when we had a good performance. The electrifying experience. The times we have to hold back our tears when singing cause the meaning of the song touches us deep into our hearts. The times where we know we have bonded so much as a team. To know and understand the true meaning of friendship. The love, the joy, its something no one can understand unless they have been through the same experience as we did, which is impossible. The tears of joy and satisfaction, reviewing our steps right from day one. Everything. That is the triumph of high achievement.
   
6. who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly..
   
   yes. Silently night. The worst performance experience we have. Which madam said was the scariest moment of her conducting experience. The song where we went completely off pitch, the who choir is singing in a dozen different pitches. Yes, that happened during a performance. We sounded ok during rehearsal, and madam decided to give the song a try. Apparently, we failed. But, we did not fall apart, we pretended that nothing was wrong, held on, stand firm, smile, and sing. And like the sir said, the good Lord gave us the b flat for us to end the song nicely. It was perhaps the worst in choir history. But we failed while daring greatly, and never throughout that whole performance did we give up or let go

see what i mean? yes. merry christmas to all. =)