CROSS AND ITS PLACE IN THE LIFE OF A STUDENT

BY: DOMINIC E.B. ANYALAGBUNA, (adebse@gmail.com).

1.0.        In the Beginning…:

Undeniably, cross is both a truth and a fact at the same time! The veracity of this facticity of cross, indeed, finds sufficient significance inter alia in its centrality in the life of a student. Hence, cross as a truth-fact or fact-truth, has almost lost its unique meaning in the lives of many students of our contemporary era. From the ancient times, cross has been designated with difficulty. But, with the salvation of mankind wrought through Christ, it came to symbolize Christianity. At this point, a new dimension of the ancient connotation for cross was reinforced. Due to this, cross has also been contextualized in relation to the students as hard work, discomfort, delayed gratification, sleepless nights, determination, inconveniences and its affiliations. So, studying is a cross that must, ipso facto, be positively accepted just as Christ did for the greater good of mankind. Consequently, it is in this sense that this paper tries to find the place of cross in the life of a student. Thus, the questions become: What is the students’ attitude to cross? How have they viewed the cross? Has cross any role to play in the students’ academic pursuit? In other words, what is the place of cross in the life of a student? With emphasis based on these questions, this essay will strive to attempt at proffering some answers.

2.0.        The Contextual ‘Cross’:

Originally, cross is a long piece of wood that people were once fastened to, and left to die on - as a form of punishment. A perfect replica of this is found in Christ. Christ died on the cross. Thus, cross became the best-known symbol of Christianity. In contemporary Christianity, the cross is a symbol of the atonement and reminds Christians of God’s love in sacrificing his own son for humanity.

Nevertheless, for the purpose of our consideration, it is pertinent to make reference to the academic undertone of cross. Toeing in this vein, therefore, the Catholic Encyclopaedia conceives the term “cross” as originating from the Latin word curio meaning ‘to torment.’ So, it can literally mean “to do something that goes against one’s wishes for a good end.” It is also a difficulty in somebody’s personal life that is particularly testing, troubling, or painful which aims at betterment. This will serve as our working definition of cross if it is in anyway definable. Accordingly, in the context of academic life, cross is an affliction that tries students’ intelligence, hard work, determination, virtue, steadfastness, or patience.

Cross, for a student, may connote all the sufferings, inconveniences and hardships traceable to the experience of Christ in his journey to Golgotha, though this time around in the academic or intellectual sense. Logically thus, reading or studying is a cross. Hard work is a cross so also do discomfort and inconvenience refer to same. Cross for a student should be a symbol of total rejection of instant gratification and acceptance of conscious repeated acts of hard work for brighter future. But, the case seems different in our era! Why? This answer can be found in the students’ attitudes to cross.

3.0.        Students’ Attitudes to Cross/Discomfort: ‘What is!’

From our contextual meaning of cross above, we have seen that cross represents a phenomenon constitutive of temporal difficulties such as pain, hard work, suffering, inconveniences, sacrifices, and object of certain renunciation of legitimate pleasure, discomfort, dissatisfaction, delayed gratification, the list can continue as it applies to students. Cross has been perceived by many people in diverse ways. So, as much as there are different kinds of individuals, so also are there different attitudes to cross by the students. Consequently, the way I see cross (hard work) may not be the way you have of it.

However, it is most unfortunate that the classical meaning of the word stud-ent which from its Latin origin means they are studying has gone to moribund.  Many students desire not to sit down and study. However, to study is and should be a necessary cross that must be borne by any serious-minded student for the sake of a better tomorrow. Nevertheless, this has been conceived as an impossible endeavour for laissez-faire students. Even the ones that study wile-away the hours in intermittent sleeping and engaging in wishful thinking. The point is not that they lack the intellectual capacity as many ignorantly claim; instead, it is a question of laziness founded on latent and profound misconception of one’s rational capacity. The result of this is escapism. Such students find relapse to all sorts of promiscuities. They replace their studies with unnecessary home movies, impure internet surfing of pornographic websites, and harmful night clubbing which culminate in examination malpractice and poor academic result.

Still, for most students, the cross of hard work holds no place in their lives. The cross of self-denial, inconvenience, discomfort and pain is not their portion, yet, they delight in the positive fruit of such endeavour. No way! Again, such ill-fated students nihilate every idea of discomfort. Instant gratification is enthroned. No one wants to suffer. Suffering as pain and denial is an evil which must be violently routed out. They abhor delayed gratification. Every person wants easy life. They go after life free from pains and inconvenience - one characterised by unmerited successes. To think of sleepless nights and burning of mid-night candle is ‘irrational.’  Nevertheless, in the midst of all these contradictory attitudes, the question of the fundamentality of cross in the life of a student is categorically imperative!

4.0.        The Centrality of Cross in the Life of a Student: The Way Forward

Cross as the welcoming of discomfort, inconvenience, hard work and self-denial as it concerns students, is supremely fundamental. Discipline is a cross. Studying is a cross. Also, delayed gratification is a cross. This is not in the Biblical sense of it (though arising or originating from it), but from the academic dimension. In support of this view, Ann Landers avers that ‘success is not a result of spontaneous combustion; you must set yourself on fire.’ This is the fire of total detachment from unnecessary friendships, distracting thoughts and immediate acceptance of delayed gratification. If a student wants to achieve good result, work must be done. This work must be hard and it demands energy, time and concentration. Concentration is very essential in the life of a student. The power of concentration is very immense. It is ‘spiritual.’ It demands an undivided attention and attentive thought or reading as the case may be. Concentration is the absence of distracting thought. The journey to this is very difficult and that makes it a cross.

A true student can never be dissociated from discipline. According to S. Okanumee, ‘discipline is a control gained by enforcing obedience or order.’ For John Maxwell, ‘people and rubber bands have one thing in common: they must be stretched to be effective.’ The process of stretching is very painful. Oh, what a cross! However, Discipline is a fruit of habit. Habit is formed from constant repetition of an act. In this case, the habit of reading - which is a discipline, is a cross that must be accepted. A wise student can decide to have his time for studies planned in such a way that anything that tries to disrupt it is seen as obstacle. The student regulates himself or herself. Such a disciplined student maintains a constant study posture and position. Yet, a cross to be endured for future happiness!

Furthermore, inasmuch as man always strives at comfort and joy, there is always a warning voice of the necessity of discomfort and pain for life to make meaning and for success. If a student is not discomforted at one point or the other, he or she stands the stack chance of sadness or failure. A minute unregulated pleasure or enjoyment can merit a student infinite sadness and displeasure. There must be certain legitimate pleasures that must be delayed or denied or even forgotten. These things are never easy to come by. This uneasiness constitutes the ‘cross nature’ of the whole process. A student can give-in his legitimate right to watch movies, to sleep, to go for party, to chat, together with his or her distracting friendships only to be able to study and acquire knowledge not just to pass, but also to enrich the human society.

5.0.        In the End…:

From what we have seen so far, it is clear that the term ‘cross’ can be applied to diverse spheres albeit with constant reference to its original signification - a sign of suffering as factified in Christ. With this in mind, cross in the context of learning denotes inconvenience, hard work, discomforts, pains, sleepless nights, delayed gratification, and studies. So, cross has a central place in the life of student. It can thus be further stretched as being synonymous with student. In fact, the aphorism ‘non crucis, non corona - no cross no crown’ finds apt expression here. No hard work, no future happiness! What cross did for Christ and does for Christians is what hard work does for a student. It determines and influences the life of a student. Inasmuch as the attitudes of students to cross is diverse, yet it calls for an appropriate reconsideration and  the centrality of inconvenience, discomfort, self-denial, delayed gratification, discipline, concentration, determination, and regulation of the senses in the life of a student. Finally, Christ has given us a perfect example of how to carry our cross of every difficulty. He persevered in carrying the cross up to Golgotha despite the falling and rising which ended joyfully in the resurrection and our salvation. Let all students, therefore, positively welcome the cross of academic hard work despite every thorn it creates in their flesh bearing in mind of the joy that will come thereafter.