I've heard of this happening to others, but the stories of past years and months and tournaments seemed distant, totally apart from my own life. Sure, some weird things had happened to me. We've all gotten the blank 5th and below ballots, or the comments about our hair our clothes. But this? This was ridiculous.
I must have said something out loud, probably 'no' or, more likely, 'NO!!', because the table has turned its full attention to me, something that rarely happens. I read a few comments off the ballot to explain my outrage. My best friend takes the ballot from me, possibly in disbelief to make sure the ballot really said that. Her wide eyes fly over the sloppy but legible handwriting on the ballot. Then, without a moment's hesitation, she rips the paper in two. My jaw drops. I think I should be upset with her, but instead I just wish I had done it myself.
That ballot lost me a check mark. I questioned for days how on earth this could have happened. It was frustrating and infuriating. I had to remind myself not to be mad at the team that got that ballot since it was not their fault.
Over the last couple of years, a lot of weird, bizarre, crazy things have happened to me and my friends. Wacky arguments, new in the two, rounds won on speaks, rounds lost on socks. It would be easy to spend out time complaining about these things. They do make for pretty good stories. But these things aren't what matter.
We shouldn't focus on the crazy stuff that drive us to a point of temporary insanity. There's a reason we hardly spend any time talking about ballots at the 'ballot' party. Sure, these things are fun to talk about. I'm not telling you to stop telling stories about the wonky things that happen in rounds or the ridiculous comments on ballots. That's fine. That's good. But don't focus on those things.Laugh at inside jokes and your own awkwardness and your friends' stories. Don't let the crazy stuff that happens take away the amazingness of tournaments and speech and debate in general. That's not what it all comes down to.
Vote affirmative, even if that ballot was crazy.
(This post is part of a series called The Third Year Chronicles. Click here for TTYC #18)
what did the ballot say?
ReplyDeleteIt'd be better if I didn't say, out of respect for the competitors who won the ballot. :)
DeleteHad me wanting to know what was said up until the end!! Wish I was able to hear the story!
DeleteIt was basically just straight up speaks with literally no mention of the actual arguments. That's as much as I'll say.
Delete