I was in scholastic bowl in junior high and high school. 
Yep. Nerd.

I don’t remember a lot about it. It wasn’t a terribly involved extra-curricular. I do remember that the two answers I always got for our team were amber and scoliosis. 

At one meet, I was the captain. We switched around captain a lot, trying different things. Captains introduced the other four members on the team, and, yes, there was a structure for doing so: On my far left is Joe. On my immediate left is Samantha. On my immediate right, far right. 

Also as captain you gave the team’s response to the bonus questions. Unlike the toss-up questions, which were fielded individually (answered with hand buzzers! like a real game show!), bonus questions were answered as a team. There were usually five questions given at once on a particular topic, and then you had a short time to confer and agree upon the answers.

So at this particular meet, a teammate and I disagreed on an answer. We quickly ran out of time and weren’t able to talk more about it. 

 I was the captain. I was able to give his answer or mine. It was up to me.

As I read off our answers, I went with his. It was wrong. The other team got the point.

Let me clarify. I knew my answer was right. I knew it. 

But I couldn’t stand the thought of choosing my answer and possibly having it be wrong and having let down this teammate and the whole team by answering selfishly.

Instead, I sabotaged myself and—as it turned out—my team.

So, here’s to having the courage to choose “selfishly” when you know what’s right.