Do me a favor, always take the stairs
The headline I chose is a bit misleading. That is, it's true, but not completely. This is not a crusade against elevators. Actually I really like elevators. Some of my best elevators are elevators. I don’t mean to be mean to an entire sector. Did I manage to get across the fact that I have nothing against elevators? Cause I could go on.
Well, I have a friend, let's call him Mano. We took a course together trying to get into a decent college. Psychometric course (you thought I was about to say elevator course didn’t you? Didn’t you??). Actually we didn’t speak during the course but after one test he taught me a life's lesson.
I remember it was the second test one of them tests they make you take in college. Enough time has passed in the course for me to be full of myself and
think I know it all. My feeling didn’t substantiate and I got a mere 518 score. It's hard to describe the rage I felt. I stayed in the classroom after all the other students left. Just me and the teacher. We got into a verbal feud. Massive. I used words I hardly ever used before, words I never knew I knew. In-between one hurtful word to another and the feelings he clearly felt and which I could see in his eyes: shock, anger, sadness, disappointment, wanting to break my face in and other overwhelming sentiments rising at that moment - I saw something else as well. I saw pride. Somewhat disclosed but it was there alright. He was proud I used so many new words, and even though they were in Russian, Arabic and if I'm not mistaken – Croatian, he witnessed me using all these words in coherent (yet hurtful) sentences. It was our highest and lowest moment.
We managed to finish that encounter without throwing blows (I still wanted to go to college yes?). I left him in awe and stormed out. Disorientated and distraught I used the stairs and walked down a floor. But then, revived, I thought there was no way I'm going the next 5 floors by foot. I stopped near the elevator and pressed the button. Near the button stood Mano, remember him my to-be-college-mate? I told him what had happened and he had one thing to say: "Always take the stairs after a confrontation". I realized what he meant when the elevator door drew open and my SAT teacher stood there by himself. "Going down?" he said with a grin. That was enough for me. I lunged at him with fists ready to blow, and we fought it hard and dirty all the way to the ground floor. If only I took the stairs I might have been a college graduate today.