We aim for the stars (Part I)

[Ken Leung]

Hi everyone. I know I said last time that it will be the last post I will do in a very long time. Turns out it is not so easy to stay away after all. Quitting FIRST was so hard that I felt like I needed a 12 steps program to help me through it. But I am making progress. I managed to stay away from most of the Sacramento Regional except Saturday, which I had to visit because Libby Ritchie and team 393 came all the way from Indiana to compete, and I stayed away from Silicon Valley Regional, a much harder task considering it’s been my home base since the beginning.

What prompted me to come back to the Chief Delphi Forum was hearing the news about the Ritchie family. I want to take this chance to say that the Ritchie’s will be in my thoughts all the time, and the best of wishes to all of them during their recoveries…

Anyway, I was browsing around just a little bit after reading about the news, and the more messages I looked at, the more of they grabbed my attention. I looked at the discussions you are having, and noticed there are many questioning and judgment of other people in this program, which is ok as long as you are getting something positive out of the debate/discussion. Problem is, it is very easy to get pulled into them. You may find yourself wanting to question, judge, defend, clarify, explain, argue, support, criticize, agree with, tear apart, correct, shed light on, and put your 2 cents in, but pretty soon, that’s the whole day. It is very easy to focus in the little things and let the days go by, and sooner or later, it’s the entire season again. But let me ask you this: Is this all you want to do with your time in this place?

Pretty soon you are going to head over to Atlanta to compete in the Championship event. To many of you it will be the first time joining the big boys’ league (excuse my language here ), to others it will be re-uniting with past competition comrades, ready to give the champion title another shot. This may very well be the most important experience of your entire life, one that will change your role in this program and your view about the world forever, so, let me ask you again: Is this (the questioning and judgment of others) all you want to do with your time in this program?

There are many problems in this world that are waiting to be solved, needing to be solved, and takes everything humankind have to give to be solved. There are places on earth suffering from nothing short of poverty, hunger, disease, disasters, and wars… And yet next week today you are going to participate in the largest event FIRST has ever created, staffed, built, and prepared by many mentors, volunteers, judges, and referees who are going to give one hundred and ten percent just to make sure you are there to experience it. These are some of the smartest, most dedicated people who could’ve been solving all the problems our society faces today, but instead they chose to be part of this program, motivated only by the mere chance that they might make a difference on the students coming to this competition, expecting absolutely nothing in return.

Why? Because they’ve decided that our generation is more important than anything in the world. They don’t have to be there to help run the Championship event, the sponsors didn’t have to give a dime to fund this program, and FIRST didn’t have to work so hard to build this quality program for our generation of young minds, but they did. And we owe it to all of them to understand at least that much.

It is very easy to focus in the little things like a certain referee’s call, or how many adults/students are working on the machine, or who didn’t win what awards. But pretty soon that’s going to be all 5 days at Atlanta, GA… So, you are going to have a lot of choices to make. How you are going to spend those 5 days at the 2005 Championship event; how you are going to take advantage of this program; and how you are going to accept the unacceptable and broaden your mind to horizons you’ve never even dream about?

It has been suggested that maybe we can tell you how to do all those things, that you listening to us is more important than you thinking for yourself. But we can’t do that. We can’t do that because it is not our place to decide what you want to do with your time, your energy, and your mind. Those decisions are yours and yours alone. Your critical thinking skills is the only tool you have to challenge these questions to their fullest extend, to cut your understanding of yourself into smaller and smaller pieces so you can examine them carefully, to analyze your own thoughts and discovers where your flaws may lie, to look at your own image and acknowledge where your strength really is, and see through the chaos and reach to the bottom of your heart to discover what your passion really is. We the mentors, the teachers, the giants and the fellow human beings can only show you the doors; you have to walk through them yourselves. You have a lot of choices to make, and these choices are yours and yours alone. You are going to have to convince yourself, not us.

But please,

Don’t choose to participate in this competition because you are going to win by being better than teams lesser than you; choose to participate because you are going to win by raising your own bar of standard so high that you are going to meet it at a level you never thought you could possibly achieve!

Don’t choose to participate in discussions because you can beat the others by throwing cheap shots and by lowering everyone to your standard; Choose to participate in a discussion because you are going to be excited by the prospect of looking at new angles you didn’t know you missed, and learning new ideas you didn’t know you lacked!

Don’t choose to respect mentors because they have the least against your action and say things you want to hear; Don’t choose to respect mentors because they let you slip by with lesser standards and lowered moral grounds; Choose to respect mentors because they shares your ideals, your hopes, and your dreams; Choose to respect mentors because they embodies what you need to let you see further than you could ever imagine, and push you higher than the highest you’ve ever flew, so you can aim for the stars and make it there one day!


Because when you have done that, you can go back to New Hampshire, to Massachusetts, to New York, to Pennsylvania, to Florida, to Michigan, to Indiana, to Texas, to Arizona, to California, and reach home after 5 days of tireless competition and countless encounters with strangers; you can look at yourself in mirror with your head held high, and say: This is my choice! And this is what I want to do with my time in this world! I am a participant of the FIRST Robotics Competition, and I HAVE BEEN INSPIRED!

Good luck with the competition, and may you have the most inspiring journey of your life in Atlanta, Georgia!

***The end of Part I***

[Cory]

Jeez Ken, that's only part one?

Don't eat up all of CD's bandwith with those monstrous posts of yours

You truly are a voice of wisdom. I think everybody who visits this site can take a lot from this post (heck, from all your posts).

Thanks for coming back, and good luck with your future endeavors.

[Koko Ed]

I think what it comes down to is a question of priorities. What are you getting out of this? To many getting that plastic trophy is everything and when they are denied they obviously react. Look at the portal and you can see numerous "best of..." popularity threads and look in numerous sigs in the threads to see the awards listed like a catoaouge.
I would like to see teams proudly list how they expanded FIRST in their community. How they effected their school and community at large. Have a link to their Chairman's Award submission and Woodie Flowers award nominiee. There is so much more to this than just the awards.
Ask not what FIRST can do for you but what you can do for FIRST.

[Matt Krass]

I knew you'd be back.

I missed your posts, they're some of the best reading I get over here.

[tiffany34990]

if that was part 1 then i can't wait for part 2....he always has the greatest things to say... we all can try to reach for the stars but will we make it in the end.....reading around these forums and talking to some of you i have great faith in our world. we are going to change this world slowly for the better just because of who we are the the values our parents, mentors and FIRST have instilled in us...

happy trails everyone!! good luck to everyone in their lives and do the things you want because it's your life...live, learn and love...

[Krystine T.]

Thankyou for that Ken! I cant wait to read part 2!

[Kims Robot]

Ken, so well put.

These days it is easy to get caught up in the craze of it all, the excitement of winning, and the sadness of "losing." But the only real losers are those who have missed out on the true meaning of FIRST. FIRST has grown to immense levels, with so many countries, so many high schools, and so many regionals now. It is a beast that it never was before. It has the power to affect so many now, but yet it makes it that much more difficult for all of us to really figure out what it is about.

Dean & Woody constantly speak of upholding the ideals of the program. Dean even gave his speach at FLR saying similar to what Ken said here... it is no one's fault if you fail but your own. The opportunity is there for all of us to succeed. Every single one of us can "win." Its what we choose that makes it reality. And this is true for students and mentors alike.

It is so amazing and inspiring to see kids who get it, kids who get that its more than just the plastic trophies and gold medals, kids who want to strive for the chairman's award more than they want to win the championship, kids who are excited to go out into their community and spread the word about what FIRST has given them. I am blessed that my "kids" are among this growing crowd. And looking around these forums there are so many out there.

It is easy to get wrapped up in ref's calls, or someone's different opinion in a thread... we all are guilty of it at times, but overall, dont let it be your deciding factor. Ken has put it so beautifully here... reading it I felt like I was listening to one of those amazing speaches that Dean gives. The ones that make you want to run out and do everything you can to be your best. So do that, show everyone your best side... and have fun in Atlanta

[activemx]

Well said ken. Thanks for dropping by.

[KathieK]

Thank you for that reminder - I, too, get caught up in the little frustrations and sometimes forget to see the bigger picture (I'm a detail person!)... But you should have warned us to grab the box of tissues before reading!

[Arefin Bari]

Ken you do still remember the conversation we had right?

Arefin: Ken, you know you won't be able to quit FIRST, why try?
Ken: watch me Arefin, I will.
Arefin: Can't just wait to see you back again so I can just remind you what I am telling you now.
Ken: ok.

... that was our conversation couple months ago, when you didn't believe me that you will be back. Looks like we all have the answer. You can ignore the best thing in your life, FIRST, just like some of us here can't.

Good to have you back man.

[Ken Leung]

Thank you everyone, thank you for your support . I can't believe people actually finish these messages I write. I thought most would hit their head to keep themselves from falling asleep, but I guess I am wrong. The truth is, I've never had so much fun writing this kind of messages. To be able to express that 5 seconds of thrill I experience everytime I read, or hear, or see something amazing is a very hard thing to do. I hope I will always maintain the urge to write messages like this as time goes on.

Now, if I only have the slightest clue on how to write the second part.

[Eugenia Gabrielov]

May I advise that you give yourself time to write the next part?

What is most important is that you speak from yourself and from experience. How your job goes, how life with a bit less participation in Regional stuff goes, how whatever goes will all change what you want to impart on people. Just remember, there are a million and one FIRSTers who don't know what you know now. Teach us something cool! Yah!

- Genia

[omutton]

That was amazing Ken! I read that two times over just to make sure I didn't miss anything.

I want to personally thank you for writing that. That is the type of post these forums needed. I myself can get caught up on the little things without looking at the big picture. That message made me stop and think about why I am in this program and what it really means to me.

Also, you chose a perfect time to post, right before the Championship event. The next week is going to be full of emotion, sometimes good sometimes bad and I hope everyone reads Ken's post so that they too can realize why they got involved in this amazing program and think about what FIRST really means to them.

Thanks again!

[Conor Ryan]

First off welcome back Ken, yeah you are right about this. A second point about this is (Ken made a ton of great points) Don't forget to have fun. Its why we all signed up in the first place. FIRST wouldn't be what it is today if we didn't have fun, so go ahead be happy.

You could always say FIRST stands for Fun, Inspiration, Respect, Science, and Technology, since all of those are pretty much the commandments of First anyway.

Be Inspired.

[Will Hanashiro]

Hey there Ken, your posts never cease to amaze me. Thanks for taking your time to write quality, I will take it to heart.