The Cost of Glory | Creative Nonfiction
One of my friends came running and said,” Rihan has submitted his project with the name XYZ which was your idea, the teacher asked for a short summary and he said exactly the same thing that you were planning for your project.” I was shocked to learn about this as I have been working on this project for the last couple of days.
They say walls have ears as well, the same thing happened during my class seven science fair submission time when I got to know one of my opponent group’s friends had already submitted the project I was researching and developing to submit. Can't submit the project with the same name as it would be considered as copying the idea because he has submitted it already and I am left with one day to submit it.
I was like, “How can this happen? The idea can be the same but how come the details as well?”
He replied, “I guess he was listening to you from the back when we were discussing our projects the other day and so he stole your idea and workflow.”
I do still remember that there were clipboards that used to have two parts, one in which the exam paper used to be placed and the another used to keep it standing like a wall so that the next students sitting right beside the student couldn't see what that particular student is writing in his paper. During my primary level, I have seen this mostly. There used to be a competition on who would climb the ladder in the ranking, who would get more marks than other, healthy competitions you know. But some used to take the help of unfair tactics, and as usual, such things happen in every walk of life.
[📸 Haseeb Modi](Haseeb Modi)
I looked at the boy who stole my idea and he was looking at me, I don't know why I was so mad and angry that I felt like going to him and just giving him a slap but it turned out that I smiled at him, smiled at his inability to do something on his own rather steals someone’s thunder, He would get some marks with this, what's next? The real purpose of the project is to develop our mind isn't developed in his case rather it made him a thereof and also the boys who got to know about this started maintaining distance.
I wasn't that bothered about what to do with him, nor thought of going to the teacher to complain as I knew that I could come up with other ideas as well but the time was running out so I better hurry otherwise it would be me who would get top suffer in the end, the teacher won't accept these silly complains of ours.
I just said to him in front of everyone, “You could have asked me to help, you just ruined the project because you're nowhere near to the perfection as I had planned with this, you stole the idea, not the perfection. Btw best of luck, see me coming back.”
In reply, “No, I didn’t steal your idea, I came up with this on my own.” Kids don't accept such mistakes as well, we were kids. Yeah, he just stole the idea and some thoughts I had planned but not the A to Z workflow. I could have done multiple times better than this.
Now I was in a dilemma whether I should go with this exact plan and outsmart him with a far better project with the same topic or should I go with a different one. I thought of choosing a different one as it might seem that I stole the idea and worked based on his existing findings so it's better to stay out of such risks.
I still remember the stress I had to take to come up with a new idea, research it, make a new workflow to work on and complete it within the shortest period of time. I was the last few to submit just on the deadline. It looked like I was ignorant about the project and submitted it somehow. The teacher knew me and asked why I was so late, I then told the truth. We were kids, and giving complaints was one of our favourite things to do, hahaha.
After the marks distribution, I got more than I had expected, he too got good marks but it was in vain as most of the students got to know about his such characteristics. Since that day many people avoided him and maintained caution on such matters. He got good grades but at what cost? Too high to be happy with.
In the end, you won, and that's what I really appreciate about everything that happened. Even though you arrived late, your teacher found out what happened, and your classmates got to see the true nature of that boy.
Yeap, there were no use of ranting if I didn’t submit that project in time. I did and got the results.
Thank you for stopping by.
This is really sad and I’m glad you won the case because if you didn’t, you will look like a liar
Nice one!
True, I knew i could do that again and I did.
Thank you for your appreciation.
It's not impossible that the same idea occurred to you both, but i believe you that he stole your work. Same thing happened to me while i was in elementary school and it was my friend who did it to me. It hurt very bad then. In the end, she apologized.
Looking at it from the angle that yoi have described, i agree that i hadn't lost much. I was the brain behind it and surely have got a grip of the process.
Yeah, the idea could be same but he did copied the same workflow that I had planned, exactly the one that I planned and that's where he got caught. He listened to my plans earlier and my friends had also noticed everything.
You experienced the same as well.
Welcome!!
In a world as competitive as this one, it is very normal for these things to happen, people take advantage of any advantage to their benefit and win the race. There is a saying that is said around here, 'Don't tell too much about what you do, envy has very sharp ears'.
Thanks for sharing your experience with us.
Excellent Friday.
True indeed.
Yeah, lesson learned.
Thanks to you too for stopping by.