Lunches in high school were an hour long. My senior year, every one of them was spent arguing with friends about dumb things. Would aliens be friendly? What’s the best animal to have as a pet? Is Miley Cyrus cool or a mess? Eventually, we got backlogged – an hour at lunch wasn’t long enough to get the points out. Arguments spilled into hallways and over texts, but were disregarded the next day for a new issue.
Half as a way to get into college, we started a debate club. We started promoting it before approval came through by hanging up nonsense posters. A marvelous symphony of things not happening the way they should led to our first meeting: 53 people. That many kids stuck in a physics classroom after school to argue about something. Anything. There was no structure. It was a complete mess. The physics teacher ended up eating all the snacks we bought for it.
It was the first time taking an idea from paper to people listening to me, waiting for me to give them a reason to come back. It was a moment of completely sincere satisfaction. It was a complete failure after that moment, but that moment was great.
Chasing the exact past is a faulty effort – something that happened, happened. But you can look back and see what you want more of in your life. The times I was happiest, fulfilled, and satisfied are probably good guides for where to head next.
Thanks for taking a sip,
Alejandro
A Fresh Sip 