The Good News About Recognizing People

There is More Good News in the World Than Bad

Rita, who came to Canada as a young girl from India many years ago, was feeling proud of herself.

She was standing in a line, along with 19 others from her community, about to receive the King Charles III Coronation Medal for her work as a volunteer.

What she had done that was out of the ordinary was to start and run an organization in her community to help newcomers meet and develop relationships with the long term residents of the community.

On either side of her were men and women ranging in age from about 35 years of age to 80, who had also made a major contribution to Canada, a province, their community or society in general.

The Coronation medals are in spirit a continuation of the Jubilee Medals that had been awarded years before by his mother, Queen Eizabeth II.

The Charles III Coronation Medal has been awarded to many Canadians who fit into these parameters. The following recipients should provide you with a sense of the scope of good works that have been rewarded:

Michael Abbott, who was instrumental in providing food safety for those with celiac disease.

The Hon. Chief Justice Robert Bauman, a former Chief Justice of B.C.

Françoise Yip for her outstanding acting in movies and TV, and

Niigan Sinclair from Peguis First Nation, who through his journalism, has advanced an understanding of Indigenous cultures, histories and politics/

Rita had not set out to receive an award. She had simply set out to build on her experiences as an immigrant and help make a more harmonious society in her community by assisting newcomers to integrate and be accepted into the community. In recognition of her hard work and passion, our society recognized this and bestowed this honour on her. Until this point, the satisfaction of improving the lives of all participants was more than enough of a reward.

Nonetheless, she justifiably felt proud, as no doubt did the other 19 standing waiting to receive their medal.

In Rita’s case this was particularly meaningful, since she was a relative newcomer to Canada.

Canada, largely through the Governor General’s Office, gives out many awards. The highest is the Award of Merit – which is not well-known – and it may only have 24 holders at any one time.

The best known and probably the most prestigious award is, the Order of Canada.

Since it was first awarded in 1967, The Order of Canada has been awarded to approximately 8,700 people, about 100/year.

There are 3 categories of The Order of Canada: Companion, Officer and Member. The Order of Canada is open to any living Canadian, except for elected officials and judges while in office, and anyone can nominate someone. The youngest to receive the OC was Terry Fox at 21.

The award is given through the Governor General’s Office and a committee appointed by the Governor General does considerable due diligence on the nominees to determine who should be chosen to receive the Order of Canada.

The Governor General’s office also bestows a number of other awards for such things as bravery, literature, volunteering, architecture, performing arts, history, visual and media arts, innovation, safety, and conservation.

Most countries have awards. The most prestigious international awards are the Nobel Prizes given by Sweden, except for the Peace Prize, which is awarded by Norway.

First awarded in 1901, Nobel prizes are given for physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, peace and economics. These prizes currently carry with it a financial reward of about $1 million U.S.

Since 1901 there have been prizes given to 1,012 people and organizations. Only 5 individuals and 2 organizations have won more than once. By country, the Americans have won the most.

The financial award, while not insignificant, is small compared with the prestige of the award. More than one recipient has given all or part of the award money away.

Geoffrey Hinton, a Canadian who was the co-winner of the physics prize for his work on AI in 2024, gave a large part of his award to Water First to help provide clean water for First Nations.

Awards have many merits, not the least of which is to recognize excellence and/or a major achievement and to inspire excellence in others.

Recognition and Awards are not limited to Governments. The military, educational organizations, Indigenous communities and foundations give many awards, as do associations and non-profit organizations often to recognize key contributors to their cause ranging from the best fundraiser to the person who has made the most significant contribution towards the objectives of the organisation during the year.

Recognition can come in many forms. Sports recognize their key performers from the Most Valuable Players, to scoring leaders to the top team to individuals and teams who vie for medals. Think of the excitement and drive needed to win the Stanley Cup or an Olympic Medal. Often sports awards come as a result of competition and come with lot of money.

While competition in general enhances performance, competition can also produce negative results. Many believe if the focus is only on winning a medal or coming first it can take away the positive results that can come just from the participation in and striving to do one’s best in a competition. Take, for example, a young child in a competition who does not place in the top 3 in a competition could view himself/herself a failure if they do not place in the top 3, when just making it to the event can be a huge victory.

Sadly too there are parents who do unsavory things to help their child win. At the other end, some sports award a prize to everyone who participated which can detract from the achievement of outstanding performers.

While not always the motivation, most people deep down like to be recognized.

While these awards inspire top performance, there is another level of recognition that is just as important and that is recognizing the everyday contributions to society and the welfare of others that many people make just by performing their day to day activities:

• the loyal employee who never misses a day of work,
• a first responder who pulls someone out of a car after an accident
• the bank teller who goes out of her way to help you through your technological challenges
• the mechanic who gets your car running
• the person who rescues birds who have flown into a windows
• the person who cleans the floor in a store to make it safe and look nice
• the coach of the local hockey team
• the faithful fundraiser
• the person who helps an elderly neighbour shovel snow or buy food
• the person who is part of your neighbourhood who always keeps an eye open for the safety of the children
• the physio who eases your aches and pains
• the teacher who day in and day out helps a child learn often overcoming considerable challenges
• the crossing guard who looks after the safety of the children and,
• the person who is a faithful friend.

The list could go on and on. Then there is the parent or grandparent who is always worrying about and acting to enhance the welfare, safety and happiness of their children/grandchildren and who comforts, encourages and loves their children in so many ways with a pat on the back, putting a band-aid on a scraped knee, creating educational opportunities, helping with homework, encouragement when they are down, communicating values, preparing meals,celebrating birthdays, helping create friendships and helping get out of jams.

As one ages one realizes being a parent never ends, but it can change in nature and for some, the child becomes the parent and these acts of love are reversed, reinforcing the tremendous importance of a family. Robert Munsch’s children’s book, Love You Forever https://robertmunsch.com/book/love-you-forever is a touching rendition of this.

None of these people do these things for the recognition. These acts are just what they do as part of their life. Often the recipient takes these actions for granted, sometimes not even knowing there are people at work behind the scenes, and as a result, do not give the giver any thanks.

But the doer sure appreciates it when thanks happen.

Have you ever thanked someone profusely and specifically for what they have done and their reply was, “Thank you. Your saying this has made my day.¨

We can all be prize winners if you thank someone. The recipient, by being recognized and the doer from knowing they have given someone a lift.

To me, the world goes around because of what these people do for others. These acts are just as important or even more important than the macro acts that win big awards and receive widespread recognition.

Perhaps, even more importantly, because it includes more people and affects how they feel. You may know author and civil rights advocate Maya Angelou’s famous comment, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you have said, people will forget what you did, but people never forget how you make them feel.” Making people feel better is a GOOD NEWS STORY too.

Till next time,

Chris Snyder, climate optimist

Email: snyderchris74@gmail.com
Stories of Good News and Hope: https://chrissnyder.makeanimpact.ca