“the world is vicious and selfish” idk man bc one of the things i remember from high school of all places is when my robotics club would compete. if anything broke on a robot you had like 10 different schools running over with tools and spare parts ready to help put it back together and get it functional enough to adequately compete— not just some zip tie shit that would ultimately make it easier to win against the broken thing. no hesitation and not a single “what if they win” question. this wasn’t some upperclass thing either— our robot was literally 80% parts we found from dumpster diving and many schools were in similar situations— so there was a good chance 6 of those 10 schools helping you were only able to provide sets of hands and brainpower but damn if it wasn’t enough every time.
if a bunch of teenagers learned the term “gracious professionalism” and took it to heart despite risking huge scholarships for the winning teams then maybe the world isn’t as bad as you fear
