Superficial Intelligence

Last year I was trying to get in shape by running a few times a week. After a month or two, when I had reached the point where I could easily jog for at least an hour, I decided to go for a 5k marathon. I did terrible. I wasn't counting on the insane amount of hills we had to run through. I managed to get second to last of about 20 participants. Still, I felt great. It was my first race and I had survived. I had given it my all. The simple fact of competing and testing my skills was satisfying.

This last weekend, I went to participate in a tournament of one of my favorite video games. I was very excited because, similar to the race, this would be my first competition of its kind. I even spent the week training for it. When I got there, I was greeted with the news that all the slots for the tournament were full. There was no space for me. That's when I noticed that I would have preferred to compete and lose than to not compete at all. It is far more bearable to give it your all and lose than to not be able to give it anything at all.