By Jan Vicente B. Pekas
When our backs are against the wall, we show our true characters. We can run as a response. We can fight against whatever lay in front of us. Or we can shiver into a ball against the mountainous tasks ahead of us. The choice is within us, though sometimes even those are hardto see. This is something we all experience.
Our end of semester lay just beyond and many of us do not see the view just yet, for many of us have our backs against the wall. We have exams, tasks, and assignments piled up. But those don’t even exempt us from life’s other duties. Great people were those who fought while moving forward and never backed down against the pressure. Though they had their backs against the wall they rose up to the occasion. This is what we all need at the moment. The same will power these great people possessed. After all when you have nothing left in the tank and when intelligence can’t help a person crawl to his goal, only will power can.
As always we will be taking our exams not in the best condition possible but in the lowest of our low. Intelligence can’t help us alone, only great desire can pull us along. The toll this journey has impressed upon me is already great enough that it has forced me to go to sleep during healthy hours at night. Such a sleeping schedule for me is simply unheard of before, most especially at times when the stakes are at their highest. But perhaps this is oneway for my body to tell me it is on its last legs.
Some students are a bit better off while others are worse. No matter how battered and broken or how intact everyone is, the fact remains all our backs are against the wall.
Everyone gets honest about themselves when all their energy is spent. We admit to our laziness and wished we had been more proactive in dealing with our assignments. When there is no energy left to lie to ourselves, we eventually reveal our own selves including all our nasty and beautiful parts.
When the going gets tough we are then asked a question. Do we want to quit or do we push on?
Each path has its own set of consequences. And it’s not like each of them is the only correct choice. There is no wrong in choosing academics or your own well being. But the path our choices lead us down to should be something we will not later regret.**
