What?!?

So for those of you who have not been to Australia before, there is a completely different grading scale in place over here. Essentially most people get Pass (p) and a few people get distinction (D). The highest grade you can get is the coveted HD – high distinction which means that what you have produced is publishable. Apparently very few people achieve, in fact people have repeatedly told us to not even try. Well, I achieved an HD on my first graded paper. And I was disappointed. Now I’m caught in this cycle of not really knowing how I should feel. On one hand I know that I should be excited and thanking God for being able to get this grade. On the other hand I know the paper I wrote wasn’t good. If I was back in the US I would be lucky to get a B on it from Case or Tyson and I feel that the word “dodgy” would be used to describe it. I didn’t put any time into it, 45 minutes to write, 15 minutes to edit. When I went to edit it I gave up because I didn’t understand what I wrote. Yet I got an HD. Does it really mean anything?
I guess in a way I feel that it’s a reflection of all of the work I’ve done while in Aus. I haven’t really been driven by academics at all, more then most people still, but not enough for myself. I’m handing in assignments that I would never dream of allowing myself to hand in at home, yet I get an HD. I feel like it means very little compared to Tyson telling me that the paper I poured a good 30 hours into for OT was good enough to publish. Does it matter what grade I get if the work doesn’t match it?