I have a confession

In ninth grade I was on the debate team and my partner and I often won. We won despite the fact that I didn't know what the word infrastructure meant and it was a key part of our argument. We won despite the fact that my partner had only been here for a couple of years and had a really thick accent. I don't know how we did it but we wound up with a winning season when there were much more talented people who were losing quite regularly.

I did manage to learn how to evaluate an argument and to be ready to defend both sides when necessary. I forget that people don't know this about me. The email discussion is up to something like twenty messages and i keep chiming in. and part of it is because I just want to win. I don't really expect major changes in policy, I just like to talk about stuff. I bet there are some people reading the emails thinking "This chick needs to go to back work and get a life."

I'm really trying to be more humble and to think about what people are saying and not get too invested or take it personally when they don't agree with me. This really applies to more than one situation.