Never miss the day without learning something about anything. If you do this, your day will have been a successful one. You can part with it with a cheer in your heart and an eagerness for tomorrow’s wonders. These are life lessons you will never learn inside the classroom. Or even if you were inside the class when you encountered these teachings, for sure, they are not part of the course outline or syllabus.
One particular lesson to learn in this lifetime is – Never be late, especially for a crowded class. If you do, you will fail to hear those that transpired in the short moment that you were not around. Worse, you will have to bear with those condemning look of the professor when you interrupt his discussion. And worst than ever, you will have to go out again, only to find for a spare armchair in the next classroom so that you can take it with you inside your room. Just imagine the hassles and embarrassment of the moment simply because you did not come on time.
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And by the way, have you seen an elephant? I must confess I haven’t seen a real one. Only in pictures and on television.
And have you eaten an elephant? This whole beast is hard to devour even by the most gluttonous animal on earth. But there is a way to eat an elephant. The process is simple. Cut the elephant into small pieces and eat it bit by bit. Mince every portion of it until you have eaten the entire beast, without getting constipated.
This is a metaphorical analogy shared in class by Atty. Doming Legaspi. The only way to learn the law is to take it on a piecemeal basis. There is so much to learn and absorb in law school. Think of all the cases and assignments as elephants being served. We have to eat them; otherwise they will stamp on us. But to overcome them, we have to learn how to dissect the animal. Learning must not be in a hurry. For even the most difficult question of law can be answered by patient circumspection.
I haven’t seen an elephant, or a rhinoceros, or a giraffe. But the elephant is in the room actually, looking for a vacant seat.
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Which leads me to ponder another question of a lifetime – will you choose to be the head of a mouse or the tail of a lion?
In life, we play roles and other stuff. We sometimes get to lead a bunch of idiots or follow the command of an inspiring leader. In one casual conversation, much of my friends said they would rather be the tail of a lion than the head of a mouse. They all think that it is more challenging and more fulfilling to be part of a great endeavor, even if the role they would take is that of the tail of a lion. Nothing is more rewarding than that. And for some, being the head of a mouse is a better choice. Well, it may not be as rewarding as being tail of the lion. Whichever choice people make, the formula for success will remain true – anything is great when greatly pursued.
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Patience is a virtue which is very difficult to acquire. It takes time to learn patience. And for the impatient who cannot stand the traffic or the long line of customers in a grocery, waiting is an art that must be mastered.
The art of waiting has to do with the concept of time. We normally associate time with our present state. When we are in a hurry to catch the train for the eight o’clock class, the fifteen minute interval of the LRT is too long to be waited. But when we are with the loved one, time flies too swiftly to be noticed, even if we have already spent the whole day with a sweetheart.
The Greeks have classified time into two – Chronos and Kairos. Chronos is the mechanical or clock time that we all conform to. Sixty minutes is one hour; twenty-four hours is one day and so on. Kairos is subjective time. This is actually our own interpretation of the time and the intervals passing by. Time is the common denominator of all human beings. We have all been given twenty-four hours for a day. But we differ in treatment of time and in valuing it. For some, the day is not enough to finish what needs to be done. While for some who have learned to manage it, every minute has simply to be filled with.
Patience, time and waiting. These three are intertwined. In a world that is filled with busy people and rush-in line deadlines, mastery of these three is potent tool to untangle ourselves from vicious cycle of mundane living.
While figuring out whether to become the head of the mouse or the tail of the lion, I need to get to class before anyone else gets in, for two reasons. First, I simply cannot ignore the condemning look of my professor. Second, I don’t want to take the trouble of bringing my own arm chair when everybody else has occupied the seats in the classroom.
