VIEWPOINT
By Noah Mintie, Current Staff
I’m a senior, and tonight is my high school’s homecoming dance. I am not going. I’ve gone for the last three years, and even made hoco court as a junior. This year, I am in Indiana, preparing for a visit to the University of Chicago’s fall open house in two days. For me to make the visit work, I had to miss homecoming.
To be honest, I’m something of a high school elitist. It’s probably my biggest flaw, the biggest and ugliest example of indulgence in my own pride. While other kids go to parties, I stay at home. When other kids want me to go do fun things with them, I’m sweating my butt off in an intense debate tournament. I’ve fought to keep my record clean and my brain growing throughout my four years in high school. The only thing that should ever be “high” around me is my GPA. When I have to pick between visiting a college so selective that my chances of getting in are around 3% versus an experience so fun that many cherish it for decades, I still pick the college. I have to keep my eye on the ball.
There’s a scene in Damien Chazelle’s 2014 movie “Whiplash” where aspiring jazz drummer Andrew is having dinner with his family. Every other man at the table is complimented for their flashy, but ultimately unimpressive achievements while Andrew is barely given any attention. He lashes out with some sick, sassy one-liners demeaning their achievements and comparing them to his own and ultimately leaves the room, which seems to no longer have a place for him.
In my prideful moments I’ve had thoughts like this. Oh, your team won a high school football game? Wooooooooooow. I took third in national extemp speaking for SkillsUSA and nobody really talks about it, but by all means, tell me about that game!
This mindset is egotistical, illogical, ugly and selfish. “Whiplash” makes a point of this. Andrew loses his school, physical safety and girlfriend Nicole as a result of his obsession. He needed to be the best, and those below him were stupid for not climbing the arbitrary ranks on which he stood. Ironically, the only other person with this outlook on the world is the abusive teacher who makes him so miserable in the first place.
Pride is a dangerous thing. It can lead to the desire to succeed and, by proxy, greatness. It can also (and more commonly) lead to misery.
Also, Fletcher obviously took the folder. Think about it.
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