Mistakes can’t always be Fixed

It was my freshman year of high school on a cool but sunny April weekend spirits were high and the stress and caffeine levels were higher. That day was the last official robotics competition for my school, the robotics team I was on was one that was well respected and considered a moderately competitive team. We were also known for always being a good pair up for competitions. Since we always made versatile robots that could take a beating while trying to complete the objective. At our last official competition of the year, we were placed in an alliance(3 teams play for one alliance against another 3 teams in one alliance.) We were paired up with 2 other teams that were local to our general area, these were teams we regularly worked with that helped our school found our robotics team. Together our three teams were known as some that could consistently be solid teammates and support teams that could help in many situations. At the time though we were up against an alliance that when announced for the match was thought to be rigged. As the opposing alliance was composed of the number one robotics team in the world who was undefeated at every competition and won the last previous 3 world championships, a robotics team that has been around for 40 years and was one of the first in the league and has always gone to worlds and the number 3 team in North America by win record. Against us 3 the inseparable trio the strategies(us), the builders, and the master driver. We stuck together no matter if we were against each other or not with a combined 30 years of competing and experience.

Towards the end of the competition, there was one thing everyone thought would happen. No one argued about it and that was who is going into the final qualifying match of the day between us or the other alliance. As the final match was starting, The biggest mistake I have ever seen in person happened. One of the teams in the other alliance forgot to secure their battery and plug it in properly to their robot, causing their robot to be considered A hazard(the batteries were extremely dangerous). This caused the other alliance to get a penalty and their robot was disabled and we got 20 points from the penalty and ended up the winner by over 500 points, a season record. A win beat all odds to the point of humiliating the opposing alliance’s teams.

After the end of the match, something unexpected during the post-match interview odd happened. The team that didn’t secure their battery right apologized and not just to their teammates in the alliance but to everyone who attended the event from those who were just watching to the competition to those who were competing or helping run the event. The reason for this was the batteries are highly toxic in a lot of ways and if they get damaged in some way could be dangerous to need to evacuate the building the competition was being held in. This is something though that changed my perspective on life. The apology put into retrospect competitiveness as well as the drive for success. That sometimes in order to succeed you need to recognize that you made a mistake, and if you did try and make up or apologize for it to reconcile and show others that you recognize that you did make a mistake.

“Robot” by Takuya Oikawa is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0