29 March 2011

Test

Cast your bread upon the waters, For you will find it after many days. Ecc 11:1

Today I was at the University. I was busy. I had just come out of a class with a returned assignment with scribbled B in a circle on top of the front page. I was fuming, thinking of how I could have made this written assigment better. Thinking of none only flanned the fire in my brain.

Then I thought.... how much I am a Them? I don't want to be a Them. Them are the people that drive me nuts with their need to be perfect, insisting always to get an A. Them are the people who know no balance of life, no laughter in the sunshine while they are in school. Them are the type of people driven for excellence so much that they miss what matters the most: the process and personal

As I walked down the steps toward my next class, I was stopped by Sister. I wanted to introduce Sister to you as Friend, but that word is empty on the person I have in mind. She and I do not share parents, but are hearts are melted together through a the trials of life and we share so many joys that we can smile at each other and know what we are thinking.

Sister and I spoke for a couple of minutes. I told her about my Applied Linguistics project (the one I should be working on now) and she told me about her open day presentation tomorrow. I asked her if she was ready. She said she has all the info but not the custome. She left her costume at home on accident. I asked her why she doesn't go home and get it because I knew she was free for the evening and her "home" is only a two hour bus ride West. She looked at the dust, squinted her eyes, and her beautiful copper skin had a slight flush to it. I knew she was broke

"It is the end of the month true?"

I pulled out my wallet and took out three shiny dollars coins for her. I told her I couldn't lend her the round trip but maybe her parents could help her out.

So why I am telling you this? Am I bregging that I can help Sister? That I am well off or more managed? That while the end of the month and the hot hot dry season roles in, I have a purse full of coins that I don't need?

None of this is true. The truth is. I am not a Them. I understand that behind the classes, the grades, the intellectual pressures to preform, there is something. The test of life is not a pen or paper, nor it is a neat presentation with pretty power point slides. Instead it is how we hold each other. It is how we have each other's back.

Sister may get an A tomorrow. She may not. Her costume might make a different. I know one thing, I know she passed the test and so did I. We share.

2 comments:

Domanick Fabro said...

I enjoyed reading this one... I don't think I am a them because I spent most of my times playing video games and watching wrestling but I still did pretty well in school you gotta learn to enjoy yourself and have fun and know when to buckle down. its easy peasy

Beth said...

Easy Peasy, right Dom? I find this so when you pace yourself, and do things that you enjoy. it is not so dogging like everyone makes it out to be. But then, maybe I am a nerd