Ferd

Today was the first day of underclass finals. Yesterday was the last day of senior finals. Tonight was commencement.

One of my seniors, who I have called Ferdinand, because he liked to stop and smell the flowers, just squeeked by in my class. In his class, he had a project final, rather than an objective test. He came to class, but not completely prepared, but he did give his presentation.

One problem, he did not have the written report that went along with the speech. He promised, promised, promised, to get the report to me. It did come in yesterday, via email.

This afternoon, I had just a little bit of work left to do, and went downstairs for a can of pop. As I am walking back to my office, who do I meet, but my young, troubled friend.

He explained that he came in to see if I had, indeed, received the email, and if I did not, he had his project on a flash drive, and would print it out.

I explained that the email was satisfactory, but that I was glad that he had come in to see me. I wished him well, congratulated him on following through and completing all of his classes. He thanked me for helping him. Of course, in my usual way, I asked him if he had learned anything from all we had been through. He looked at me strangely for a minute, and said, "to get my work done?"

I responded, "to believe in yourself, and to get your work done!"


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