Hey, Profs!
How many of you have spent the past few weeks stressing over your grade in a class, your class ranking, your GPA, your paycheck, your weight, or your order number at Wawa? I am here to tell you to stop doing that.
As you all very well know, finals week is hell. And I will not lie – I walked away from some finals feeling utterly baffled. But that is when I realized; I am not the sum of my numbers. And neither are you.
Your class ranking has nothing on your personal ranking. Your GPA doesn’t reflect your intelligence – despite what people may think. There are somethings tests cannot measure. And don’t blame your professors; they are only doing their jobs of recording grades. But there are not tests or homework assignments that measure your kindness, the depth of your heart, and the bonds of your friendship. If your GPA falls short of what society has deemed worthy, don’t worry. Society likes to claim that it praises high salaries, high scores on intelligent exams, and high numbers on the nation’s Top Ten charts. But, think about it; do those things really contribute to the wellbeing of society?
Two men are walking down the same crowded street in a metropolitan area of an affluent country. The first man carries with him the status that comes with a high salary, a good degree earned with an exceptional GPA, and the pride that comes from knowing he passed his standardized tests with flying colors. As he walks down this street, he sees nothing but business opportunities. The tall skyscrapers shout real estate investment numbers at him, the trees lining the side of the street beg to be chopped, down and the stores on either side of him are seen as nothing but competition.
The second man comes from a much different place. He has a degree, but doesn’t brag about it. His GPA was average, and he passed his standardized tests, falling within a respectable percentile. His salary pays the bills and puts bread on the table, but he’s not planning to buy a house in the Hamptons any time soon. As he walks down this same street, he sees the homeless. He sees people working hard just to get to the end of the month, he sees donation cans and empties his pockets into them. He buys food for those who cannot afford to feed themselves, and he sees his surroundings as a land of opportunity to grow as humanity.
Now, in no way am I saying that the wealthy are cold hearted. I have a few friends who come from wealthy families and they are some of the kindest people I have ever met. Nor am I saying being of the average variety makes you a natural humanitarian because once again; I know many people who do not fit this mold.
What I am saying is; high numbers do not determine your value as a person. It’s your character and who you are. It’s how you use what you are blessed to have, and how you work to make the world around you a better place.
If in a week or so you see your final grade posted online, or you do not get the raise at work for which you have yearned, do not let this get you down. Having a higher number is in no way a measure of who you are.
Although high numbers aren’t always what society expects. A low number on the scale is often times more desirable; especially if you identify as female. Personally I don’t know what it I like for those who identify as males, but I always hear guys at the gym excited when they gain muscle weight. Now please take two seconds to think of your last measured weight. Got it? Good. Now forget it. Yes, you should maintain a healthy body weight but you should in no way hurt yourself trying to get a lower number. Your weight doesn’t determine how great of a person you are, how big your heart is, and it should in no way influence how happy you are.
You may even be stressing about the number of likes/favorites/retweets/reblogs/etc your posts on social media get. Please, don’t let social media suck you in. You are so much more than how many followers you have, or how many likes your selfie got. Don’t let the numbers fool you.
As for the number at Wawa, that is pretty cold and hard to get around. But hey, order number 867 will be called eventually, won’t it? And then you can eat your macaroni and cheese in peace, knowing the calorie count has nothing on the size of your heart.