Take a close look...who is the Contest winner?!

Posted At : March 14, 2008 1:56 PM | Posted By : David Balzer
Related Categories: Contest

When you run a contest, there's always someone who walks away with the "stuff" and others who are left with nothing. By definition there are always winners and losers. Winners, we are told, are very happy because they won a lot of stuff, losers are sad because they walked away with no stuff. The Great Canadian Neighbour Contest would be no exception to this basic tenet of how the world turns.

But pause for just a moment and take a look at the two faces in this Contest photo...

One of them entered her neighbour to win a $400 Spa Getaway Package, and that entry was drawn! So tell me, which one is walking away with the "merch", the grand prize?! If we apply our typical assumptions about the way the world turns to this photo, one of them should be looking elated, while the other should be looking glum. Turns out, this photo is a problem and begs the question - have we got our definitions right?

You may have heard the encouragement somewhere along the line to love a neighbour. When Jesus was asked about that, His response was, "Do this and you will live!" That 'live' part is what makes the two people in the photo indistinguishable. Seems there may be one contest that ends up with only winners even after the prizes have been doled out and that nicely messes up our definition of how the world really turns.