Grumpy

I have become a grumpy old man.

And like most old men, I don’t know when or how this happened.

Fatigue, idiots, and being surrounded by other old men are probably to blame.

This semester I have enrolled in an EMT class because I generally am really interested in emergency care and helping people whilst being at a university that has a great school of medicine. It really did work it quite nicely. With this though, I dedicate four hours every Tuesday and every Thursday to EMT lecture and lab.On Tuesdays, I have EMT lecture from 6:30pm to 10:30pm.

This Tuesday I arrived in the building at 6:28 and was walking down the correct hall at 6:29 and at 6:29.30 was asking two girls if the seat behind them was taken or not.

The seats in the classroom are on rollers and are not in orderly rows, so it’s hard to tell what seats are still open.

At 6:29.45 I was done with them debating about seats and just sat down as it was rightly now my chair for the next four hours and fifteen seconds.

Throughout the evening, lecture was going well and I was listening and trying my gosh darn best to spell weird terms that I actually might have to know to help some imaginary person in my imaginary future.

The thing that is neat about this course is that it is completely voluntary. It does not count for pre-med or physical health major students whatsoever. This course is all about becoming an EMT just to become an EMT.

That said, throughout the class I happened to be sitting next to Ms. Blurts-A Lot- The-Answers and behind a girl doing homework on her laptop.

I couldn’t help but think about the drastic differences in people I was surrounded by.

Next to me, I found someone that I would probably want as an EMT if I was in trouble- at least, if I had some obscure thing happened to me.

And in front of me, I found someone doing their biology and econ homework whilst we were discussing the difference between cardiac arrest and cardiac failure.

This reminded me of my grandfather’s college lab story of his instructor killing a rabbit during a surgical demonstration- and how he never wanted him to conduct surgery on him.

The same applies to EMTs as to engineers, architects etc.

Before class, I was grumbling because of my own tardiness. During class I was grumbling because of the lowering standard of appreciation of education. And after class I was grumbling because the snow from Jonas the blizzard had turned to brown mushy slush and they ran out of old fashion donuts at Whole Foods.

I think I have come to the right conclusion.

I am a grumpy old man.

But if being a grumpy old man helps me motivate myself to pay attention in class, raise my grades, avoid slush, and eat more donuts, then a grumpy man I am.