The Grade Reaper

(My co-worker just informed me that in Latin, there is no word for "husband." Every man is assumed to be married so there is no need for any such word. Hmmm...every man naturally must be married, so why come up with a word for a married man? Ha ha, interesting thought.)

I'm the head TA for a professor at BYU. This week the final grades are due, and so I've been trying to tie up loose ends with frantic students who missed such-and-such or completely spaced something-or-other. It's been kind of crazy, and honestly, quite miserable for me. I've had to up and say to some students, "I want to extend mercy to you. I really do. But there are rules which you were told about over and over again. You didn't listen. There's nothing I can do." It's been so hard! So far none of them have been angry with me...just really sad. It makes me sad, too. There was one case in particular that was really just a silly little mistake, but it had big consequences for more than just him. I basically told him and his roommate that "now would be a good time to trust in the atonement of Christ, and by extension, the miracle that is forgiveness."

Suddenly I saw a light at the end of the tunnel. I hadn't finalized the grades yet. They still had to be weighted. :) After weighting the grades, a lot of people who would have been GPA fodder were just fine. B's, B+'s and some had even higher grades.

*Big sigh of relief*


You know, sometimes I wonder if our Heavenly Father is so relieved when we let Christ's atonement help us. No doubt--more relieved and happy than I could ever imagine.