Where it All Started

Ridge 2024

Ridge was such a high. It was the first time I saw motions I contributed to being debated and talked over in the bustling GA; it was beautiful and heartwarming to hear arguments and ideas that I hadn’t ever thought of, and despite the criticisms sometimes muddling the praises, I loved every moment of that weekend.

…

After I quit debating competitively earlier this year, whatever that really means, I stopped thinking about this activity. I stopped being able to ramble on motions, come up with quirky extensions, and whatever else that is part of debating.

Ridge was probably my first interaction with it in 2 months, and as much as that seems like the blink of an eye, for being something I love, it felt like an eternity.

I guess the story was just sort of ironic. My in person debating career started at Ridge in 2022, round 1 was probably the first time my partner and I had ever stepped into a prep session together, round 2 was the first time I debated this “you should do what you love” narrative that I’ve since then debated countless times, and honestly, I don’t even know how many points we ended on because my brain trauma blocked the number.

That Saturday was nevertheless an awesome one though, I’m still really thankful of Paul for travelling all the way to Oakville on a couple days' notice, and cracking jokes in between rounds to lighten the mood.

2 years later, I was on the orgcom team of the same tournament where it all started. Nothing had changed to the school, I had still envied the broadway path down the middle of the building, the classrooms were as I remembered, quirky, lively and brimming with the excitement that Garneau never had.

Outside of the physical architecture though, I could have recognized nothing. These days I don’t wear button down shirts to tournaments, I don’t spend 10 minutes of prep figuring out what a motion means. I don’t nervously stutter, and I don’t worry about having a prepared introduction. But I saw every one of my old mannerisms in these young debaters, I saw myself mirrored in all my imperfections.

Ironic? Maybe. But I think these experiences are pretty gorgeous, or maybe heartwarming, I’m not sure how to really describe it. Maybe it’s just that feeling of true eudaimonia.

…

I spent a lot thinking about that final motion, and although I can’t really discuss what happened in the deliberation, I think I can say my vote was for opening government, albeit, I was the singular minority on a panel of 7.

I had bought the silver bullet that debate was just categorically bad for people, that quitting might be the healthiest way out.

This is ironic coming from me, and I just want to be clear, if I had the choice of going back in time, and making myself quit 3 years ago, I would undoubtedly not do it. But that’s only indicative of the fact that I was lucky enough to meet genuinely great people that made up for all the flaws of this activity, not really a testament to how it is.

And honestly, if you had listened to that round, you’d see some of the overwhelming toxicities present, the underhanded jokes people cracked that were fun in the moment, but a true reflection of the nature of debate.

The irony here is that if you asked anyone else on that panel, I’m sure none of them would have wanted to quit, all of them would be able to tell you the memories they have from tournaments, spars, and overnight trips. But if you asked them if they would put their future children into the activity, I think the answer would probably be no, at least that would be Dennis’ answer.

I still don’t really know how to feel, I think underpinning a lot of my blogs and thoughts over the last year has been this question – is debate worth it? I don’t know if I will ever know for sure, and within my bubbles of thoughts, there’s tons of hypocrisy that I will never know for sure of.

That's a debate. An activity, for me at least, that is polarizing and marred with imperfections, but one that undoubtedly has been memorable.

…

Thanks to everyone that made this possible.

Thanks Evan for giving me this opportunity, for buying bubble tea. Thanks to the rest of the CA team for being fun, and although I’m not proud of every motion we ran, my love for some of them makes up for the rest.