Should be named Victoria

    Only one can be the first - and no one knows it better than the second. Very much indeed, it is confusing to miss the target by one step. On one hand there is the acknowledgement for being better than almost everyone. However, on the other hand, there is 'almost'. And this 'almost' can be really irritating.

   I hate to be the second. This characteristic revealed itself already at the beginning, since I am a firs-born child. Later on, the situation has not changed: first in class, first in sports, first in games. First in everything. Those proverbs such as "Participation is more important than victory" and "One should learn how to lose" did not make sense to me (though I was definitely not the last in comprehension, as you have surely figured out).

For victory, I did not shrink from tricks. Once, when we played 'Who laughs at the end?' with mum, and she was about to win, I excluded her from the game without batting an eyelid. And that was all.

   However, it used to be easier as a child because thence the increase of the number of my years is directly proportional to the increase of the number of my duties. And let's face it: sometimes challenges of adulthood can defeat even perfectionists. To make the occasional losing bearable, I reposed myself with things like "I don't care" and "It doesn't matter", which were obviously not useful, since they were not true.

   Thus, I approached the issue from the other side: Why do I think that second place is an apocalypse? Things that are the second can also be wonderful. Let's take the Nile, which has just been degraded by the Amazonas. Though the Nile is now only the second longest river on the Earth, it is still remarkable with a length of 6650 km, and its history as being an indispensable part of Egyptian culture. Furthermore, it is the natural environment of 120 fishes and the denominator of other species, e.g. the Nile crocodile.

Or let's consider Susan Boyle. In spite of losing the final in Britain's Got Talent, she did not come a cropper - she is more successful than ever before.

   So I made a conclusion: instead of regarding second, or even worse, third place as losing, I see them as room for improvement. However, considering jewellery choices, I still prefer gold.