As a society we tend to look condescendingly upon those who venture to answer quesetions they probably have no business in answering. Or, in other words, we don't like it when people are wrong. Having grown up with the attitude that being wrong is well, wrong, I think it's fair to say that at some point in time each and every one of us has been embarrassed over producing an incorrect answer.
I actually don't really recall any particular moments in High School where this was true of me, not because I didn't ever answer the teacher's questions, and not because I was always correct, but because it simply doesn't matter to me anymore. I couldn't care less if I say something incorrectly, and I suppose that part of my personality derived from my experiences in Micronesia.
It's important to note that Micronesian people love a good joke. They love laughter, and a laughing people they are. I remember vividly the cultural contrast that became oh so apparent once my sandals hit the beaches of Moen, Chuuk.
I loathed that place. Oh boy did I hate talking to the people - and for good reason! The Chuukese people would not stop making fun of me, and I was deeply insulted, and often took it very personally. Part of it, perhaps, can be attributed to my poor language skills, but much of it - at least I think - was cultural. The Chuukese people laughed at mistakes and then moved on. Like many other languages, there isn't even a word for "awkward" in Chuukese. As I sit here and ponder on that word, I'm not even sure how I'd express it in Chuukese, which is saying something. I may not be a Chuukese linguist by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm certainly not terrible. I can't think of a single word, or even phrase, to describe awkward. I'm sure someone somewhere knows though.
Anyways, I should probably stop rambling and get to the actual story. Today is proving to be a long day. It's only around 3:20pm right now, but it's only going to stretch out longer. I did my "usual" routine (I say "usual" because it's only a habit I've had for the last 2 weeks...) where I wake up at 6:00am, do my Insanity workout, then proceed to hop into the sauna for 15 minutes. Everything was going as planned until I couldn't figure out how to lock my own door (perhaps it was just too early). Anyways, I went to class, which is a bit of a jaunt from where I parked, and that's when it happened. I thought I would try to be intelligent and answer few of the professor's questions. Unfortunately, I didn't have a clear understanding of opportunity cost, and made myself look like a complete idiot. I raised my hand, completely enthused, thinking that I had the perfect answer to her question. It's also quite unfortunate that I tried to be a bit of a keener and sit front row. Somebody told me that your grade is affected by how close you sit to the prof. The closer you sit, the higher grade. Nice. Well obviously I sat as close as possible. So there I am, the front row sitting keener holding his hand to the heavens. Ugh. Cringe. I'm an idiot.
So it would probably be right of you to assume that I no longer ever want to answer a question in that class ever again, but I'm surprisingly unaffected by this. It honestly doesn't phase me at all after being made fun of constantly by Chuukese people. I suppose if our society were to laugh things off more often, we'd probably learn faster. Never be afraid of being incorrect, because it by our mistakes that we learn. I can certainly attest to that. I'll never forget that opportunity cost can't be attributed to two things at once.
You know, I also did a bit of an experiment today. My family left the house, so I'm home alone focusing on school. My mom was gracious enough to leave some lovely cookies for me. I can't resist cookies, brownies, or pretty much anything else sweet. I have a massive sweet tooth. I really didn't want to consume all of those cookies. I mean, I did but it wasn't a health desire. I opted instead to gather the cookies together into a plastic bag and take them to school to share with my friends! I posted a status on facebook saying that I was outside a specific room with cookies for those wanting to partake. Funny enough, it didn't even work. I got a fist bump though. Several people saw me in my conspicuous location and decided to chat, but no cookie eaters. Oh well,
May all your days be filled with cookie experiments and horrible class mistakes.
Until tomorrow,
Brady
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