"...haha! I beat your high score...!!" I exclaimed at her, with loud expressions but a muffled voice as I did not want the professor to hear my ecstatic proclamation.
[This is a repost of one of my stories, published in June '21.]
This incident occurred during my MBA days. Like many of my peers, I opted for typing notes on my laptop, given my handwriting resembled a doctor's prescription (no offense to doctors with neat handwriting). This habit persists today; I still rely on my laptop or phone for note-taking. The event I recall dates back to 2008, during a Labour Laws class.
While our professors were undoubtedly excellent, as students, a bit of mischief was almost expected, right? Anyone who has studied HR would agree that Labour Laws isn't the most captivating topic in college. The subject itself was dry, compounded by a particularly stern professor. So, from time to time, I would sneak into a game on my laptop under the pretense of taking notes. However, I wasn't alone. Many used the laptop for activities far from taking notes, including this girl, let's call her SM. Like me, she was also hooked onto the same game. It was some game about marbles, where one had to shoot at marbles on the screen to form patterns and score. SM was really good at it and always scored high. That day, however, I played well and had actually achieved a new high score which wasn't just my high score but was higher than SM's high score!
The rush of accomplishment & excitement overwhelmed me, so I ended up informing SM right then, as she was seated close by. I was expecting an "oh damn!!" kind of dejected expression from her, but I was taken aback by her reaction. SM showed me a thumbs up and was grinning ear to ear, almost as ecstatic as me! After class, I reiterated my triumph, exclaiming, "SM, I beat your high score!" she smiled and said "That is really awesome!" I was stumped, so I asked, "Why are you so happy? I just beat you!" What she said next got etched in my mind forever. She said, "but we aren't competing, we are partners playing the same game!"
I was speechless, as I realized how silly I was for looking at this in a competitive way whereas this girl had a completely different perspective on it. I saw a competitor in her, and she saw a partner ("collaboration" wasn't in my vocab back then) in me. This incident stayed with me and to this date reminds me how sometimes we get carried away in competing, at times against the very same people who support us or are trying to work alongside us. Being competitive perhaps is good at times, but one must ponder if we lose out on good friends/colleagues/allies who want to join us in the journey and not necessarily see it as a competition.
Thank you, once again, SM, for imparting this profound wisdom in the most simplest of ways.
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