A very dear friend and one of my favorite professors posted the following on his MySpace page (I just love MySpace!):

"Midterm is tough for students - it's a downpour of exams raining down on top of the usual stress of class projects and their normal lives. Exams are pretty intense because, although they are in one respect an opportunity for us to excel with our destinies in our own hands, we each have self doubts about our own abilities to perform on exams and so fear (in some way) the possible outcomes of the exams. The stress of exams seems multiplicative when they pile up - perhaps they interfere with one another in a manner similar to waves - so I think that the coincidence of so many exams at the same time causes students to perform more poorly than is representative of their knowledge. Although I try to offer opportunities for redemption, I know that's little solace.

Midterms are tougher on professors, too. The stress for professors at this time of year, though, is more just worry about keeping up with the increased workload (resulting in a slight buckling strain, but hopefully not catastrophic failure). Writing and grading exams is time-consuming work. It's also the time of year for student evaluations, faculty classroom observations, and annual review letters. Professors who are parents also start feeling more pressure at home as activities for kids pick up about this time of year.

"Yet, outside the university, the rest of the world continues on with no notice. Everyone has a different crunch time: the end of fiscal years (or quarters), tax deadlines, budget deadlines, elections, end-of-the-month bills and rent, etc. It's sad to me that many people see these deadlines and wish for the time to pass so they are clear of the trauma. I think about a story I heard when I younger about a young man who got his wish. The story went something like this:

"The young man had been trudging through the woods, pulling a heavy cart of dung when he came across a little magical elf pinned beneath a fallen tree as a hungry bear advanced. The young man picked up a sturdy stick and drove the bear away. The grateful elf offered the young man a magical gift of his choice. The young man, thinking about his unpleasant task of hauling the heavy, stinking dung asked for relief from his chore. The elf produced a small, silver ball from which protruded a thin thread. "Take this ball and keep it with you always. When you want to fast-forward through bad times, simply pull on the thread." With that, the elf vanished.

"The young man held the silver ball in his palm and gave the thread a gentle tug. A centimeter of thread came out and the boy suddenly found himself at the market with a wad of cash in his hand, having just sold his cart of dung. "This is pretty neat," he said to himself, and headed back home.

"On his way home, he encountered bandits who demanded his money and threatened to kill him. The young man's hand went quickly to his pocket for his little silver ball and, with another little tug, whoosh! he was standing alone in the forest, barren of cash, but unharmed.

"When he got home, he began to worry how he would now pay the rent on the farm and avoid being sent to debtor's prison. He lay awake nights rolling and worrying. He became obsessed with his problem. Finally, he reached into his pocket and gave the thread a good, solid pull. Instantly he was on the other side of his problem, having somehow found the money to pay the bills and then some!

"And so it went - every time he had a stressful time, he yanked that thread and was transported clear of the problem. As time passed, the silver globe began to become ever so slightly translucent. The effect was too small for the boy to really notice, though, so he continued on with his life.

"One day, he saw a school friend from his youth who had become very wealthy and highly reputed. The young man wondered if he would someday make his mark, as well, and the question slowly grew in his mind until it became a hot infection in his brain. He became obsessed with the thought that he might not make his fortune and become wealthy and comfortable. His insanity grew until he thought about his little silver ball. He held the ball in his hand.

"When he first got it, the boy could not make out the contents of the ball, but with each pull of the thread, the image of the interior became every so slightly clearer. "Strange," he thought, but since he couldn't make the details out, he thought nothing more of it. Besides, he was too obsessed with the question of whether or not he would someday be rich. Impulsively, he grasped the thread and gave it a mighty pull. A full meter of thread streamed from the ball and the young man rushed forward through time.

"When the whirlwind stopped, he looked around and found himself in a beautiful home - not rich, but comfortable. He had made enough of a fortune to have a solid account in the bank and a large stretch of land to his name. A beautiful old woman sat next to him, and he knew her to be his wife, but his memories of time with her were oddly distant. He looked down then at the ball in his hand. His hand looked wrinkled with loose skin and was speckled with brown age spots. The little ball had become as clear as crystal glass and he could see the internal workings of the mechanism. It was a simple wooden spool, almost completely bare of thread. As he stared at the spool, he saw it slowly turning like the gears in a clock. He suddenly realized that, although he had made a wealth of gold in the bank that recorded his financial works, he had passed through his life without collecting the rich memories that record the wealth of our passing lives. He had let his worries blind his eyes to the beautiful life he had lived and, with that thought, the spool turned its last millimeter and that was the end.

"I don't remember where I learned that story, but it is one that I think about often. Sometimes life is happy and warm, and sometimes it's not. Try to appreciate every minute of it, though, because there is no rewind and, as far as I know, we only get this one."

Oh, I promised to cite my source... and forgot! So here goes:

Dr. Kurt Friehauf
Department of Geology
Kutztown University
Kutztown, PA

That was neat. I never realized that professors had stress during midterms. I guess when I was a student I was too obsessed with my midterms to notice others. Thanks for sharing this...

thanks for sharing terrie. i really liked the story