The Benefits of Being Sick at a Debate

Today I was appointed as the controller of a classroom debate. I had no interest in partaking in it at all so I am assuming that is why I was the chosen one. It is either that or my teacher knows I have the ability to yell through a human if they dared not listen. 

Actually it probably has something to do with the fact that I get so heated up and angry that if you stuck your middle fingers up at the Hulk and called him fat, he would not be able to get as angry as I do when it comes to arguing against a person who cannot make and hold a clear point yet still expects to keep on talking useless nothings and unfortunately my current class contains a person as such so perhaps that is why I was appointed the most neutral of roles. I now, thanks to my teacher, had the ability to argue both sides at both makers of weak points all in the name of my 'neutrality' which gave me the final word and gave me power ultimately over all that was argued, and I was rather content with that. The testing of the Hulk's anger levels and my anger levels was thus unnecessary. 

But something quite interesting arose in the debate today. One of the first girls who was arguing 'for' a certain book being racist spoke strangely, in a congested manner. It turned out she was sick. She looked so unconfident about the fact that she was chosen to lead the argumentative points, so the Good Samaritan located somewhere deep inside of me decided she could not let this be. One way of resolving this problem, thought my Good Samaritan, was to give that girl words of encouragement. But I knew that a simple "you can do it!" would not suffice. 

"Whenever you feel as though you are losing," I said instead, "sneeze at them!" She looked at me strangely. "Honestly, just sneeze in their direction and you will win instantly!" And then it occurred to me; she taken my advice, she would have won in two ways: the first being the most obvious, in that she would infect everyone so that there would be nobody to argue against her so she would win instantly, and the second being that she would have found an enemy amidst the arguing and it would have made her feel good inside knowing that she had contaminated the enemy and that that enemy would suffer for the next five days. An eye for an eye; a sickness for an argument. 

Alas she did not take my advice. She instead puffed out a few words, minor arguments that could not even offend a feminist on her period, and sat back down. What a waste of sickness. 

The Power of Procrastination

Procrastination is more powerful than we humans expect it to be. We deem it a phase, a phase of rest, of reflection, of evaluation. However what we do not associate with procrastination is disaster.

Right at this very moment, I have a week to complete two Powerpoint presentations. Having completed more than half of each, my brain automatically has assumed, despite my large amount of reading material consisting of around twelve books and seven research essays, that it is time for a long break, and it has thus decided to write this essay in the duration of its break, so I am now unsure that 'break' is the appropriate word.

Unbeknownst to mankind, procrastination is a powerful force that is feeding on us. We are its bait, its food, its very nutrients and it keeps growing and growing because we are simply allowing it to. We brush it off like it is a normal aspect of university study, like saying "I'll do it later" or "it can wait!" are very non-lazy things to say, like not washing the car when it is dirty because the thought of the process tires the owner out is normal. Like having reading material but choosing to write something fairly relevant yet irrelevant at the same time is a good idea.

Procrastination is quite deviant. It waits for us, lurking in the shadows, until we tire of whatever important activity it is that we are occupied in. All of the sudden, we feel ourselves drawing away, being sucked out of our worries, and into a silent utopia where thinking about our worries as distant things and being unproductive are two vital aspects. And we allow procrastination to do this to us because, to be quite frank, being lazy is rather exciting. At least you do not have to spend any of your energy, well built up from all the nasty food consumed due to lengthy study periods and not enough time to eat a proper meal. No, with procrastination, all one does is sits and thinks.

Thoughts are dangerous. They veer one away from actions, and that is the very epitome of procrastination - it does not want you to think. It wants to rid you of all cognition so that it may grow even more powerful yet. It plans to one day rule our world, and it is already doing so by attacking each one of us individually at varied times. It is quite intelligent, for when it strikes it does not remain long enough to make itself seem problematic, otherwise humans would begin to look for a cure to fight it with. Procrastination simply calls your body its quick destination, invades your mode of thinking, and momentarily pauses any importance that is situated in your life in order for it to thrive for that moment, then it moves on to its other victim.

Sometimes, procrastination gangs up on groups of people at the same time, particularly groups working on a group project that becomes seemingly difficult to complete. It strikes, and none of the members have to, for around an hour or so, worry about the group work at all. In fact, most of the time they are happy laughing at useless nothings while procrastination is at work, so again, procrastination is not seen as problematic. 

We must win this battle against procrastination. We must stand up for our energy and use it within us, rather than let a strange source in to invade and conquer our hard-earned energy supply and use it for its own merits. We must use our energy to accomplish things waiting on our to-do lists, or even bucket lists. We need to fight for our right to be. Procrastination no longer should hold a place in the finest minds of our nation. With that said, though, I am procrastinating right this very minute...