How...

'How come we are still around? That's a weird question I suppose,' he said as his sight moved through the rows of people gathered before him. Some were busily jotting down notes, or so he hoped, in their notebooks, while others seemed to be entertaining all sorts of ideas from faking a healthy dose of interest in what their teacher was saying to trying to speed up the passing of time by starring intently at the ceiling. As if he was having more fun than they were. With a sigh he turned his back towards them and picked up that dreadful piece of chalk which he despised.

'Ok, so what do you think,' Noah asked them as he was drawing on the blackboard, 'why are we here? Why is the grand human race still stuck on one small planet in one itsy bitsy solar system?' With that he finished his drawing and turned towards his students, hoping to see interest or at least an irritated expression from one of the little self-entitled know-it-alls that were spread thoughout the class. No such luck, at least not at that point. All the students sat there, content with minding their own business and letting him rant on, maybe hoping that he'll pass out and they'd be able to sneak out early. 'Groovy,' he muttered.

'You know, you could get their attention quite easily if you wanted to. You just have to go a bit crazy...you know, like back in the good old days. Gotta admit that you miss it,' a small, honey sweet voice whispered in his ear. 'Come on, don't be shy! Wink, wink,' it ended in a playful tone.

Sour expressions, bored yawns and absent minded doodlers sat in the same desks where he once thought that he will find a new generation of writers, of journalist or...well, he actually would've settled for smart and ironic, but that wasn't the case. What he got was the attitude he himself had in high school, multiplied around twenty times and spread evenly through the crowd. Cocky, arrogant know-it-alls that sat there with a bored expression on their face, each of them craving adventure, that's what he found.

As he looked over his students Noah began to realize that he never actually looked at them. Nonetheless, he pressed on with his small lecture for the day, not changing anything to it except for drifting from his post and into their mid. He kept dishing out the elaborate text that he learned by heart as he walked up the paths made between the rows of seats.

For the first time he let his attention drift on what they were doing rather than on what he was saying. Bit by bit Noah discovered many interesting things. He saw that one of his students was doodling in his class, indeed, but that her drawing was as far from mere lines as a car from a pair or roller blades. He also noticed that some were writing bits and pieces of texts on different blogs or that they were cautiously reading articles on the web.

God bless wireless connections and open networks, I guess, Noah thought. Contrary to his beliefs, he realized that his students weren't the only ones that didn't show any interest. In fact, he might've even encouraged them on that path by not taking an interest in turn. The people in that room were the ones he could've helped harvest their gifts a bit more, encouraged at times. What did he actually do? Well, he ranted on and on and just settled for the norm.

Somehow all this didn't turn out to be as he had imagined at the beginning. Back in those days, before he even finished his own studies he imagined himself as the future innovator, the harvester of brilliant minds, ready to awe and daze at a moment's notice. Now however, Noah came to realize that he instead became the very type of teacher that he dreaded back in hos own days.

'The one that you would've made a noose out of your shoelaces for, right? Cause I get confused, we hated so many back then...Ah, those were the days.'

So, that was that. He was hearing voices, sarcastic ones for that, and he ended up being the actual antithesis of what he had dreamed of becoming. This whole life thing was going pretty well for him that day, but maybe there was a thing or two that he could've changed...starting right then.

What the heck, here goes nothing...' and with that thought he made his way back to the large wooden desk that throned next to the blackboard. 'So, you find this boring? A bit dull on the sides, right?' Suddenly, he found himself the target of newfound interest or of a couple of dozen pairs of eyes.

'Well then, now that we established that class is dull why don't we dump it for the day,' he carried on, taking the silent attention as a sign of encouragement. 'Life has us continuously trapped between the proverbial rock and hard place, each day presents new challenges and expectations that we have to match up to and somehow, for some reason, we endure and still manage to hold our own against all that. Why do you think that is?'

The normally apathetic crowd began to stir a bit, a few hands even shot up high into the air. Keeping it on what he normally would've called the edge, Noah settled down cross legged on top of the desk, tossing about the apple he brought for lunch. Slowly the discussion picked up, the kids making the most of it, bringing new ideas and taking the conversation in all possible directions. Neither theory about the foundation of the universe, nor oriental paradox were safe from them.

For the first time in the past couple of years he felt alive while teaching. In fact, Noah could've sworn that right there on the spot he had traveled back in time to a place where he was once more an often sarcastic wisecracker surrounded by highly opinionated friends that made the world seem brighter. Without realizing it, as he grew up he had accidentally let go of what had made him, in lack of a better term, him.

With that particular little epiphany hanging in the air, Noah glimpsed at his watch and realized that it was time for them to go. The normally painfully long two hour class went by as a breeze and that meant that they all were free for the day. Oddly, he regretted it a hell of a lot more than he usually did. Actually, usually he was just relieved for it to be over.

'Ok, guys, you wanna hear my call on it? Here it comes, we're all here cause each and every one of us has a small part to fulfill in the big picture. For some of us that part is to amuse others, make them see the brighter side of life. For others it is to lead in times when no one else is willing to rise up and make a stand. Each of us has a part in the grand design of things. And even if we don't know how the rules of the game, even if we don't even know how things should turn out, we should always listen to the small inner voice that tells us where to go and what to do because deep inside we all know what our purpose is. Either that or we're all extremely paranoid and have a mental autopilot. Heck, call it a guardian angel.'

Getting up, with a few more creaking bones than he normally recalled, the old rejuvenated wise guy got up and started clapping, bringing a puzzled look from his students. he bowed once to each part of the class, laughter filling the room, and turned to look at the time piece that hung on the wall besides the blackboard. Time moved fast and never waited, another thing he had to remember.

'Guess what guys? We're done for the day and apparently just in time for you to run off to some party, get plastered and then play hide and seek with your consciousness. So, for next time each of you has to come up with one reason for why us valuable lil' critters hang around all the time, whistling and dreaming under the sun. Class dismissed.'

The usual sober march out of the class was different this time. People were chattering away, some continuing their arguments, others having a laugh over some of the wackier theories that were tossed into the mix, and he felt younger. They were smiling with an upbeat tone in their voices and he was feeling warmer. All in all, they were happier, more interested and a heck of a lot more interesting than before and Noah's ego was beginning to soar again.

After the last student slipped out of site along the corridors of the university building, Noah took his jacket, tossing it over his shoulder and with his hands in his pockets, marched out the door thinking nothing could worry him anymore, not now when he found himself again. And, he thought with a smirk, it was all due to his own mind.

'You know, I had a part in this too, you know. One should not ignore the nice bodiless voice that helped them out in the past. heck, some might even pay so much attention that they'd rush over to a doctor's office,you know.'

Then again, Noah thought, maybe he should go see a doctor. One of those nice ladies with a lot of medicine bottles and even more prescription meds. Yeah, he could see that going with the whole life-changing-train-of-thoughts thing.

'The again, I am pretty cute as far as voices go. You could be doing a lo worse, I mean it's not as if I'm telling you to go jump off a bridge, right? Surely it's just a sign of a healthy and imaginative mind. Dude, you listening?'

Hmmm, Voicey...just how healthy is it to tease one's own conscience? With that one last thought for the class, the door closed behind Noah and he went around with a skip taking in the sun and prepping for that trip back home that he was avoiding. Maybe he was going to meet up with some of the folks who used to know a younger, more teasing version of him. And maybe he was going to have a vanilla milkshake...Yeah, he was definitely going to do that.

***

PS: What's a wise ass? Me likes to think that, in fact, a wise ass is a lil' burro dressed up as a franciscan monk. Just how random was that, huh?

Oh, and have a nice night/day or day/night! :)