If I ruled the world, I would get rid of the word “busy” from the human vocabulary, which means exterminating it from every language and dialect. And if someone decided to come up with another word for “busy” that meant the same thing, then I would have that person’s taste buds eliminated. With a Taser gun.
With the mid-term morbidity now in the past and the club week chaos just a week away, I am sure every single student from the greenest freshman to the grayest senior is saying the same three words, “I’m so busy.” Those three words have become our default answer for every “How are you doing?” that comes our way. Sometimes I find myself saying the words before the person I’m speaking to finishes his or her sentence. It’s like my mouth vomits out the answer before I’ve even digested the question.
One of the latest Harding trends I’ve noticed cropping around campus is what I like to call “Battles of the Busiest.” I have often come across friends and acquaintances discussing their individually busy lives while standing in the line at Chick-fil-A, sitting in class or passing the candle at ring ceremonies. What begins as a friendly conversation quickly escalates into a competitive rivalry to see who exactly is the busiest of them all.
There is the girl who is student teaching, taking 18 hours of classes, vice president of a club and trying to plan a wedding talking to the guy who is double majoring to get into medical school while working three jobs, performing as the lead in the musical and looking for the girl to plan his wedding. And by the time they are done one-upping each other they begin to regret their chapel seat choices for the semester.
Here is the thing we all need to keep in mind: We are college students. And we are all busy. True, the average senior is much busier than the average freshman, but I know some freshmen who could outdo some seniors in club memberships, class work and other obligations. The fact of the matter is, regardless, we are all busy. We are all having to come to terms with the fact that play time is sometimes becoming a waste of time. And it is killing us all on the inside.
And so there is no reason why we need to say “I’m so busy” when someone asks “How are you doing?” Because when God comes and asks “How are you doing?” we begin answering him with default answers. And often times those default answers become “I am too busy for you, even though you are God.”
I am a busy student myself with a lot on my plate too, but I am not going to dwell on it anymore. I am not going to tell you what kind of busy I am because really, it does not matter. I am sure you are just as busy. It is time to stop moaning and whining about how busy I am and just give God his due time of my day.
Instead of telling others how busyI am, I will try to reply with something far more creative and interesting, and hopefully get a great conversation out of it that does not revolve around schoolwork. Something that does not require a default mode.
And besides, we all know default more are for robots. And we all know robots are stupid.
