Pre-exam musings

I don't particularly know what to say about these happenings, but I guess I managed to draw something particularly profound from them.

At the De Havilland Restaurant, at a table next to mine, there was a group of students screeching in supposedly intelligent debate about the existence of God. It was bordering on disrespect and yelling at each other and dissing. I shook my head in disbelief, not just because they were noisy, but also because..... the debate was simply going nowhere. I pleaded with them to keep the volume down. But one of them said something along the lines of 'This is the De Hav Restaurant, we can talk as loud as we want!'

Which made me come to two conclusions. First, they had no manners. No one screeches in a public place. I have been known to break this rule several times before, but I pay attention not to, these days. Second, they were the complete antithesis of their own religions. Or lack thereof. I felt like turning round and telling them that they were disrespectful not only towards me, but towards each other. Two of them were apparently Muslims (from the headscarves they were wearing). I felt like being the cynic that I could be and saying, 'Oy, and you say Islam preaches peace and respect? Considering what you two are doing, I don't think so!' only to hit out at them, not at the faith.

I have wonderful friends -- brothers and sisters in faith, friends of other faiths and friends without -- and they were sufficient proof of what I wanted to advocate. Respect. Nothing more.

Soon after that episode, I saw a young woman seated at table all by herself. I don't know..... I was moved to come and sit by her. I didn't want her to be alone. That young woman couldn't speak English (she was from Brazil, and thus a native Portuguese speaker). I did wish that Gonçalo was there with me so that we could speak with each other, but he would've been at College Lane... Regardless, I just sat by her. I didn't want her to be alone. And besides, this was one person which not many people would sit with. She was one of the cleaning staff at De Hav.

I began to wonder at what came to my mind when I sat there.

I had a visual picture of Christ Jesus sitting by me at table, when I was all alone, and at a time where I wouldn't necessarily be receptive to Him. What mattered to Him most was that He wanted to be with me, He wanted to be by my side and He wanted for me to know that I wouldn't be alone. When I sat at that table at De Hav Restaurant, I had an inkling of how it felt.

And with this, I sign out.

My Equity and Trusts exam begins at 2:15 p.m. There are going to be about 500 students sitting for this exam. Some (like me) are sitting directly after finishing Year 3; some are resitters. I've got three topics under my belt, ready, and I want to do one more just in case. We have to answer two questions in two hours. Please, pray for me, and for all of us who are sitting for this exam!