Sympathy

This morning, I woke up and felt rather excited to write my second final of my three in total. I didn't do too much studying for this class, but it was only because I felt I had a strong grasp on all the things we learned already. Theology From the Margins has been, by far, my favorite class of the semester. We got to learn about four different theologies within four different people groups, and how their view of the gospel and the Christian faith is so close to what we might consider classical Christianity or orthodoxy, and yet still be missing some things so that it isn't actually Christianity.

As much as I loved this class, it was a lot of work. Regrettably, it may have been the only class where I spent more than a single day on any assignment this term. Yes, that speaks to my sloppy work in most cases; but on the other hand, it also tells that I actually cared enough about this class to start my homework earlier than I needed to - partly because I had no choice.

Unfortunately, our term paper and the last assignment was due within the span of a week. And because the weeks that these two were due, I had several other assignments due. So, as it was in the last couple weeks of November, they were two weeks of death. I felt the effects of it too. After each assignment I finished, I felt so drained that I really had no idea that I'd be able to finish the next one. The effects of being drained meant I ended up handing a couple assignments in late - which is something I never do, by the way. So you might be able to tell that it really did take its toll on me.

However, back to this morning's final. I was excited to be able to walk out of my final and discuss the questions with my friend. However, as the exam started, he was nowhere to be seen; we ended up starting a few minutes late in hopes that he just slept in or something. But after a while, he never showed up, so we just started.

There were several points during the exam where I started to think about him, but I knew I had to finish the exam first. After I finished, I went to his room to see him watching a cartoon. I was kind of shocked to see that he didn't go to the exam. He told me he never actually handed the last two assignments in; and because of that, he thought he failed the class because it was a course where we had to submit all assignments to pass. So, I guess he thought that he failed, and just gave up.

As a dude, I'm terrible with this compassion stuff. I didn't know what to say. I don't even remember what I said. But the expression my friend had on his face was one of such defeat, I'm not sure anything I could've said would've done anything. It's really too bad, because he's one of the smartest guys I know; and to see him go down, probably burnt out, like that really hurts me.

All I remember is, as I walked out of his room, I said, "I don't want you to fail, ____." I think he needed his space, so that's why I didn't want to poke at him anymore. All I can really say is that I feel terrible. I don't know if he will pass the class now, and I don't know if he cares.

Well, I guess that it's a choice that was made; so, everyone will have to live with the consequences. It's one thing to get knocked down; but another to get knocked down and get back up, or to just lay their making friends with the ground.