learning post-finals: in the airport



It is post Finals Week, and I think I might have a Finals-Hangover. Ever so often, my mind buzzes with memories of a challenging Euclid Proposition or the mangled conjugation of a frustratingly irregular Latin verb. My hand still aches from composing dozens of essays. A perpetual weight on my eyelids recalls those scant hours of sleep over the past week. Nevertheless, despite the hangover, the mad rush of academic fury has been extinguished with one last Friday morning examination and a triumphant smile at the wintery, New Hampshire sky.

Home. 

Winter break is here. Finals are over. Home calls. 

However, the learning never ends and a new lesson presents itself with each moment. But what more can possibly be learned beyond that acheived in a solid Liberal Arts curriculum? A lot, apparently. With each new chaotic experience that throws itself as an obstacle in my way, this reality is solidified, and my humility grows. 

Airplane trips are a prime example of these lessons. Sitting in an airport for twenty hours can result in one of two things. A mental break down and temper tantrum, or an extreme growth in the virtue of selflessness. I have accomplished both. Accepting with humility and kindness that never ending snowstorm that cancels flight after flight, those irritable tempers which permeate the air, that obnoxious mob of vulgar teen boys headed off to their hockey tournament ... There are many challenges in trying to fly home during a winter storm. For 12 long hours, I failed miserably in meeting them with charity, but after 12 hours of airport food, airport chairs, airport air... I realized that I had no choice but to suck it up, let go of my pride, and deal with it. And in that one moment of realization (and resignation) ... virtue grows. 

Who knew? Finals, though great, aren't everything after all. 

I'm on my way home, but the learning continues, even in the most unexpected of ways. 

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