The End Is More Important Than The Means

So I still maintain what I said in the last post. But, wherever a door closes, another one opens. Plus, it can be a little satisfying to watch things go to pieces when you're not in charge. Sometimes you really get what you ask for.

But I've been thinking about something else lately. I'm not sure if I want to call it a double standard or judging a book by its cover or what. I remember back when I was at Tulane, and I would go to the gym with a friend of mine. We would do the same exact workout, but when we left, she would be dripping in sweat and I had barely broken a sweat. Now, when acquaintances saw us afterward, they automatically assumed she had killed herself and I went for the smoothies. How wrong they were. I guess I suffer (or am blessed with?) a lower body temperature than most "normal" people, so I have to get my body to a much higher temp in order to sweat. I just hated the assumption people had that I had not done a workout. I like getting credit when I deserve credit.

A sort of similar situation occurs when it comes to courses. One of our course coordinators told us yesterday that he valued us understanding the material more than us getting a certain score on his exams. I agree that in a perfect world, yes, that's what he should value. However, the people in the room who can't afford to get another D or they're out of pharmacy school (or for that matter, none of the people in the room can afford to get an F at all) resented him for this comment. What I started thinking about though is how much we do value grades, and oftentimes how little it reflects the preparation that went into getting them. One time I made the mistake of telling a classmate how much (or actually to him, how little) time I put into studying. He flipped out. I have come to realize that I have been blessed with the ability to understand things quickly and a good short term memory. That allows me to do well on tests with less preparation than other people.

So I guess my conclusion here is that in our society (for good, bad, whatever), the end is seemingly much more important than the means. Appearances are what we go by. Sometimes that sucks, sometimes it rocks.