ageant

aron Von Lodge was the head of a small country known as Lilliland near Switzerland. The time was the early 1900s.

Some of the service clubs of Lilliland wanted to sponsor a pageant to recognize the outstanding and beautiful young women who had volunteered their time and effort in service to the local community organizations. These activities included hospital work, elderly in-home assistance, water safety instruction to children, and other help-related activities.

The Baron was asked for his approval of the beauty pageant and for the use of the public park auditorium and theater for the presentations. The Baron said that he would grant free use of the facilities for the event providing the emphasis was for rewarding the women for the services that were given, and not the so-called beauty aspect. Fashion models must have beautiful features for the camera to sell their products, but that does not make them anything special. Inner beauty, like service to the community, is what makes people special.

The six judges were selected: a baker, dance instructor, track coach, fisherman, skiing instructor, and a dress designer.

In addition to the regular requirements, each judge wanted the contestants to perform a task in the judges’ fields of expertise. The baker wanted the contestants to bake something, the dance instructor wanted to see the contestants dance, the track coach wanted them to run a race, the fisherman wanted them to dress up like their favorite fish, and the dress designer wanted them all to model her dress designs. Everyone was furious with the judges and their plans.

When Professor Hamblin, the Baron’s chief advisor, heard about these requests, he immediately informed the Baron. Lady Angela, the Baron’s fiancée, was also advised of the judges’ plans. The Professor, the Baron, and Lady Angela all said “Enough is enough,” and the Baron dismissed all of the judges.

The newly selected judges would judge all the contestants on what they had done in community service. All the finalists would be judged winners and there would be no losers.

The Baron said that those people who gave their time and talents in service to the less fortunate were all winners, and so there were no losers in the pageant.