There is a great book by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn that I read a while back titled A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. The book takes you through the life of Ivan Denisovich, who is a prisoner in a Russian prison camp (sorry if I have the details wrong. I need to go back and review the book). In short, it takes the whole book to go through one day. Now, to spare you the boredom of hearing about my day in a booklength list of items, I will sum it up fairly quickly. Here we go.
My alarm goes off at 6 a.m. on the average week day, and I roll out of bed, being careful not to step on my roommate Richard who is still asleep beneath me. I shower, shave, and try to get awake enough to sit down and read from the New Testament for half an hour before I head off to campus. (Breakfast fits in there somewhere too.) As I ride my bike to campus I feel the cold chill that has settled over Provo recently, wishing that I had worn my gloves. Getting to campus, I sit down in class, ready to start a day of learning and studying. And yes, that is what I do all day, every day. But I don't complain. In fact, I kind of like it. There's something about learning that just makes me excited, and even though I don't understand half the principles being taught in physics, I just smile and go on, praying that I'll at least get a good grade for my effort. Work as a custodian fits in the afternoon for three and half hours, which gives me time to relax my brain from the lecturing and studying. But, after work ends, it's usually back to the library. I come home at night, ready to get a good nights rest before I start again the next day.
Now, I realize that this day isn't anything too special. In fact, it's the life of about any college kid out there. And, of course I'm probably exaggerating a little. I do seem to find time here and there to visit people and spend time with friends. But, having said that, I think it's about time to go to bed again in preparation for the wonderful day that lies in wait tomorrow.
2 comments:
Great book.
You only ate one meal (breakfast) in the day; indeed, breakfast is the most important meal, but the other meals are not to be neglected. Remember despite your analogy to being a Russian work camp, i.e. school, you don't have to live like you are in a Russian work camp. (note, I took the liberty to intepret your entry--you mentioned the book and said it was a reason for you writing the article; thus, you could only be comparing yourself to Ivan.)
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