High school students across the country devote countless hours to clubs and school-organized hobbies which can lead to a lot of tension, as outlined in a Reddit post.
*This is a work of non-fiction sourced from social media discussion boards and verified experts/specialists.*
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One high school student recounts their experience of finding a competitive environment in their own speech and debate team, and learning a thing or two about friendship along the way. The author explains:
"When I was in high school, I was on the speech and debate team. If you're unfamiliar, think drama club meets young democrats/young republicans. I mostly did the public speaking events that focused on real-world political topics, and I loved it. I usually made it to finals in my events, but I had fun even when I didn't. There was a girl I saw at almost every tournament. Let's call her M. M and I didn't do any of the same events because she focused more on the drama side of speech and debate. But M was constantly comparing herself to other people, and would get really arrogant if she made it to finals in her events and I didn't make it to finals in mine.”
Making matters worse, M had a tendency to be a "one-upper," never letting anyone else use a conversation to share about the great or exciting things they had done lately. The author continues:
“She and I are still friends on social media, although we haven't personally spoken very much since high school. I've watched her flaunt two different failed engagements now, along with a slew of random jobs that never seem to work out for very long. I don't post as much on social media, so she didn't really know what was going on in my life. My long-term partner and I found out in early March that we were pregnant. We had been trying for a baby and didn't think it would ever happen because we had been told by doctors that our chances of conceiving naturally were slim. So this baby means everything to us.”
However, soon after, their old friend M announced she was expecting, as well. The author explains with:
"M is due two months before me. At this point, I hadn't announced my own pregnancy publicly yet, so M didn't know, but some of our mutual friends knew. One of them who was really close to her informed me that she had shared her baby name list with her and that the name my grandmother picked out was on the list. My partner and I recently found out that we are also having a boy, and are using the name we love regardless of what M names her baby, because what difference is it really going to make, especially because we don't even live in the same state and these children will probably never meet. It's also not a unique/rare name by any means, so to us it feels silly to act like only one of us can use it.”
This was a chance for the author to get some petty revenge, as she concludes with:
“This is where I got my small dose of petty revenge. After we learned the gender of the baby, we decided to go ahead and announce our pregnancy publicly, and since we already had his name picked out, and it's something we know we're not going to change our minds about since it has so much sentimental value, we decided to include his name in the announcement. M hasn't said anything to me about the baby or about our name choice, but apparently, she has had a lot to say to our mutual friends. She said if she can talk her partner into it, she still wants to use that name for her son, and that since her baby will be born first, if I do end up using it for my son as well, then I'm just copying her. She has apparently become obsessed with trying to find out details about my pregnancy and my relationship with my partner.”
What do you think?
Is the author justified in continuing forward with using the sentimental name she wanted for her baby, even if her old high school rival wants to use the same name?
Or should the author go by the ‘first-come-first-serve basis’ theory, and if an acquaintance will use the name first, she shouldn’t use it herself?
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