Random Act of Kindness #9

Random Act of Kindness #9
Anonymous to my acquaintance


I’d save this act of kindness to post after our Ethics Class has ended to make it completely anonymous to the very end.
If there are those who read this and were in the Ethics class that started at 9:00 am to 9:50 am, MWF in Fall 2008 at Drake; then you’ll be surprise to know that it was me, Tan, who organized the tables every morning before our Ethics class started for our individual group discussions.

I got the idea after the first three class period, where Professor McCrickerd always wanted us to get together into our small groups of four to discuss about our opinion about the readings and theories. If the classroom wasn’t set up; it usually take about five minutes or even more for everyone to get organized and move the tables for Professor McCrickerd’s activities. I thought that was a waste of our time in the class to discuss and learn about philosophy.

So, I took action. Every day, (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) I would wake up early, despite the fact I wanted and needed more sleep, at 7:00 am to drive to Drake and set up the classroom for our group discussions. And then, I usually sit down and relax, until everyone came and started the class. At the time, I wasn’t considering this act as a random act of kindness. Instead, I was more concern about the time that I and the rest of my classmate had in the class to understand what Professor McCrickerd wanted us to understand; every minute count for me to understand philosophy. After a while, I thought that this natural act to learn and to use all of the time in effectively, could be part of Professor McCrickerd’s anonymous random act of kindness to others requirement. So, for everyday that we had class, I would always set up the classroom for our discussions.

However, I noticed that if I was the only person to be first in class, then my classmates and even Professor McCrickerd will suspend me in doing this act of kindness and then it won’t be anonymous. So, I decided to set up the classroom for our group discussions and do my disappearing act. I would often go to the library to do some research or go to the Olmsted Building and have a cup of coffee and/or eat something and relax until class started. Around 8:40 am is usually the time where my classmates start to arrive to class. So often, when I am late, I would park for 15 minutes in the Drake visitor parking lot, set up the classroom, leave the parking lot, and park my car at a student parking to avoid parking fees, at the same time, set up the classroom for our group discussions without anyone noticing me. However, the two lady janitors did notice me, one day, and I told to keep this as a secret from my classmates and professor. They agreed and returned doing their job, knowing that I was a kind person for doing such a good deed for my classmates and professor; knowing that they could’ve set up the classroom themselves, if they had known to do so.

The best part of it all is that no one actually suspended me in setting up the classroom. I felt excited, happy, and great about myself and my classmates’ curiosity about the classroom being set up. I could barely hold back my smile and excitement, when one day, Professor McCrickerd paused and asked everyone the room, “Was the class set up like this when all you got?” Everyone respond, “Yes” and Professor McCrickerd thought that the other classes liked how she wanted the classroom to be. In addition to this, what better way to not be suspended to setting up the classroom, if I had some of my classmate who saw at Olmsted, before class started or arriving late; that is exactly what happened and it was totally unexpected.

Nevertheless, if there those, who were my class in Ethics MWF 9-9:50am, it was me, Tan, who set up the classroom, every morning, for our group discussions. I guess those who don’t read this, will never find out who set up the classroom in Professor McCrickerd’s Ethics class Fall 2008.