Chapter 28: Good, bad, or in between.

finals are an interesting time in the career of college students. it’s kind of like being tripped out for at least 2 weeks, and it’s ok because no one questions why you suddenly start laughing hysterically or why you’ve been binge eating at 3 in the morning. most of all, you are excused for saying the most outrageous comments and for speaking without thinking. after all, how are you expected to think more beyond the rigors of academic life to check that you are being a polite person?

this past finals seasons, my roommates and i had a very interesting conversation. it started out with how important grades are to each of us, and it naturally turned to sex. the question that was raised was would each of us be willing to sleep with a professor to get a good grade. surprising, some of us (not saying who) said that we would be fine with it. this was followed by would you sleep with older men to would you sleep around casually to would you sleep with someone knowing that you are the other woman and that he is in a committed relationship.

on first glance, one would assume that the answers to these questions would be automatic no's. after all, social convention attempts to teach all young girls that these are not acceptable behaviors. yet, what interested me the most was that the answers to most of these questions were "it depends." the situation, circumstances, the state of mind that each person is in, etc. it was never a concrete yes or no.

we've always been taught to be strong in our convictions and to take a stand if what we believe has been questioned. but what do we believe? how many times can we honestly say that we completely believe in one idea or the other? is there any way to classify something as completely good or bad when there are so many what if's in this world?

this doesn't make me doubt anything i believe in, but i always find that it's important to understand that the opposite of what i believe is not the enemy or the wrong. it's just a difference, something that i should keep an open mind to if i really want to learn something new now and then. it's not a lack of faith in one's own convictions that i find faulty with others; it's the presumption that what one things is so completely correct that they just can't be wrong. and these are the people who seem to be wrong the most.