Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Clairvoyance

The pressure of making this post stand under the weight of its title may be difficult. I mean I might as well have entitled this "Inception" at least then I could take a  Christopher Nolan approach  and just keep going deeper and deeper until my readers reach the fourth level down and don't know which way is up. Don't worry my resolve to create an experience that intricate is far from adequate. So on to the matter at hand, something significant occurred today. The approach I've taken to organic chemistry this semester has been "face first" for lack of a better term. I think that does a decent job of showing how vividly I've committed to doing well in this course. Well my regular class routine of sitting in the front, powerpoint notes in one hand while scribbling down anything the professor utters in the other, all came to a crossroads today. As class concluded and I was finalizing my homework answers before submitting it, someone asked me about one problem then another and another until I realized they had no idea how to do any of the homework. I ended up explaining the content of the entire assignment in a small 20 min lecture composed of this individual and about 4 other individuals that had their own questions. Amidst rambling off  why an alkene that undergoes hydrogenation always adds two hydrogens via syn addition, I underwent what most literary scholars call a catharsis. Something inside me changed. A moment of clairvoyance you could say. I realized that all the discipline I've instilled in myself to immerse myself and understand this course thus far has enabled me to help others which is something I really enjoy doing, but have never really experienced in the capacity of mentoring or teaching. It was rewarding. It kind of felt natural almost like I needed to nurture that feeling further and cultivate it into something more. So I suppose my perspective is continuing to evolve in light of todays events. Also feels like now I don't have a choice in understanding these concepts anymore because people are depending on me to explain it to them.   :-)

1 comment:

  1. with great power comes great responsibility young padawan... lol

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