[Venkatesh]

First off, SilenceNoMore, I am glad that you have brought up all these issues. I know people who would just let them fester and become bitter about them. Thanks.

Why exactly do you "do" FIRST? To anybody who is reading this, please think about this for roughly one minute.

If one focuses on the competetion, then criticizing the Kit of Parts and Referees and Announcement/Information Systems is valid. These problems detract from the fairness and excitement of the competetion and "unlevel" the playing field. When Dean said something like, "Life isn't fair" at the kickoff, I was most annoyed at him. On one hand, he believes that his visions can change the world. Fine. But on the other hand, he is throwing around the cliche that "life isn't fair"? I am not five years old. I do not see the world through rose-colored glasses. I know "Life isn't fair". Even then, isn't it worth trying to achieve? Dean, a visionary, is ignoring that. That bothered me a lot.

I have not been to a FIRST regional in two years, and I will never be a one again. I have never been to nationals. Many of you would say I am missing out on some of the best parts of FIRST. Yet I didn't need to worry about the fairness or unfairness of referees, scoring systems, and the lack of a team social. I didn't even need to worry about the robot's performance. I don't truly like robots and robotics systems. I hated many of FIRST's rules, which stifled unusual designs. I did FIRST for the other people on the team I was on. I enjoyed working/playing/inventing/tinkering beside them more than anything else. I hear so many jokes about inventors and engineers being solitary figures. Well this here future-engineer isn't that way. And from what I gained from working in teams, I doubt that anybody can truly enjoy working alone.

What I am trying to say is that there are many reasons to "do" FIRST. Some of them will bring suffering and frustration. Others will not. Sure, I was annoyed at my team members on more than one occation. But those annoyances did not make me bitter and cause me to hate what I did. I enjoyed being a teacher to younger students far more than any other position I ever held on team 30. I hope that my work impacted them in a positive way. Some of you are able to point to a brilliant robot and say, "That is some of my work." Two years from now, I will be able to point to several once-freshman wiring and programming, and say, "That is some of my work." The reason I ended up with has brought no frustations that you spoke of.

I have noticed "Gracious Professionalism" being used as a metaphorical bludgeon, Monroe-doctrine style. People question the actions of others while wielding the famous phrase all about, and it continually beats down about FIRST-ers. Sort of like the works of Lenin in the Soviet Union. However I have a very good simplification of GP here. At my high school, almost nobody closes their lockers. Hell, I don't know how to use a combination lock. There is an unwritten trust amongst members of my school, that nothing will be stolen. Also there is a sort of unwritten trust with the authorities of the school that there will not be any meddling with the open locker policy. I see these trusts and GP as the same concept. Both of them depend on bilateral (or multilateral) honoring of an agreement of kinds. However the interesting part is what happens when people ignore GP or forget the unspoken trust. At my school, we almost always ignore it, realizing that it was an aberration, and it will go away. I believe that FIRSTers should respond in the same way, as violations of unspoken trust between teams are unusual.

And finally (I promise), I do not agree with Dean Kamen (sp?)'s visions for the world. My visions for the world have nothing to do with technology, but with more political goals. So? Many of you would disagree with my visions. That doesn't make my visions any less valid, and it doesn't detract from your ability to criticize my visions. Keep on criticizing people - it is only through negative feedback can we correct and improve.