Embarrassment in class

Just Your Average 68-Year-Old College Freshman

I always knew this would be a humbling experience.

One afternoon a group of us were grinding away at geological map data. I whipped out my Pilot G2 Writing Instrument (6 for $7.29, Target) and solved a long-division percentage calculation by hand, citing the number of feet in a mile off the top of my head—I wasn’t showing off, this was grade school stuff for my generation. I knew I was being watched. “You’re a genius!” a young woman sighed toward me.

Moments of triumph are often fleeting. Within seconds, He-Who-Doesn’t-Give-A-Flying-Expletive announced that my answer was wrong, wrong, wrong—almost instantly he had stumbled upon a childishly, embarrassingly, pathetically simple solution to the problem. To make things worse, He-Who was right.

I always knew this would be a humbling experience.