Unity: Trivia Night

Mosiah 18:22 - "... Having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another."

On Wednesday night, Helaman Halls put on a program designed to enhance the academic potential of the residents. I was on the committee in charge of planning and executing the final deal, and it was a serious success.

The competition was fierce as people slammed down answers while chugging soda bar mixes and slamming back pizza and pork sliders. I didn't participate myself, having some prior knowledge of the questions, but it was still fun to watch the rest of the crew get worked up in a frenzy and enjoy the resulting ambiance.

As the committee in charge of the event exchanged high-fives and compliments about our various roles in the execution of the event, a mild debate sprung up over who'd done more. Now, don't get me wrong; not a one of us thought we'd done more than the others. On the contrary, we kept trying to convince each other that everyone had participated far more than we, ourselves, and that it was their contributions that had been the real key for success.

I was thinking about this later on, and I think, in a way, all of us were right. The assignments we were each given played to our strengths in ways they might not have with other individuals. Had I been given the charge of getting the food, I might have inadvertantly poisoned the entire crowd. If I'd been in charge of trivia, it might have evolved into some sort of geek pop culture game. If I had been assigned to passive programming, I might have conveniently forgotten all about it.

It's in that sense that I think I forget sometimes why different minds are able to produce something greater that one mind could not. Being a writer, I rarely like to work on projects with others, preferring my own personal vision. However, there still comes moments when I have to bring my work to bear with my audience. Inevitably, the audience has suggestions and insights about things I didn't previously pick up in my first drafts, and our different minds produce something more grand than before.

So, I was complimented by some for my own contribution to the program, they saying, "I couldn't have done that." In return, I say, "Right back atcha."

My own contribution involved designing the event's logo.