SAME PLANET, DIFFERENT WORLDS

I have this students, B. I like him. He is something of an anomaly for two reasons: 1. He's an older student with a family and, 2. He has a genuine alacrity for the subject of environmental science. It is totally refreshing! I'm not sure when/how it all started, but his eight year old son has been battling cancer. I think the little fieldmouse was on the up swing at the beginning of winter quarter because B was merrily buzzing about how his kid is feeling well enough to do wrestling.

Then I got an email from him last week, apologizing for being absent the day before without notice. He was writing from the Children's Hospital and he told me that his son just had major surgery to remove another tumor. He reassures me that he will have his research paper in as soon as he can. I wrote him back and told him not to spend a single ounce of energy thinking about classwork until things have stabilized with his son.

He came in today between classes with his research paper. I told him about all the trivial things he missed over the past few days and then asked him about his boy. We spoke briefly. It does not look good. The boy has to use up his lifetime dose of radiation as a last resort and they have to use more risky, experimental chemotherapy. B kind of left in a rush because things were getting too emotional. I can't believe it.

I cannot believe that someone so terrific, dealing with something so difficult came in to hand in a paper while the rest of my students can't seem to make it to their 9:30 a.m. class because they just don't have enough discipline to roll out of bed.

Could this day get any more soggy?