Divine Instinct

I think that the insane desire one has sometimes to bang and kick grumblers and peevish persons is a Divine instinct.  ~Robert Hugh Benson (http://www.quotegarden.com/complaining.html)

They come along every so often - the complaining student who takes it upon themselves to load up my email box with complaints that often seem inexplicable and senseless to me and I try to respond seriously and politely and with all the good customer service skills required of college instructors. I also am thankful that absent-mindedness is a trait professor's are known for so that these emails won't spring to mind every time I grade or respond to this student in class.

I first met her when she took issue with the wording on a quiz question she GOT RIGHT. The question described a study done by a fictitious city and the student had to choose what kind of study the city had done. The issue? This city was never mentioned in the text and that was confusing. I told her that questions often used fictitious names and gave the example of a graduate student named James who wrote his thesis on the competition for scarce resources in a small farming town. I told her if asked which of four theories he likely used in his thesis that the student should know to look up the definitions of the four theories in the index to see which one fit and not to waste their time looking for a reference to someone named James. She complained that the city in the question actually DID exist. I responded with a wink that I also knew a graduate student named James. And so it goes.

Her current complaint is that the instructions for the required length of the assignment are in the description of the assignment rather than the grading criteria. She first wanted to know if I had gone rogue and decided on my own to add this new requirement to the class assignment and if she would find this similar requirement in other sociology classes (presumably taught by saner sociology instructors). I explained that it was a stated requirement, told her where it was and explained the placement of these instructions - in detail - and told her that she could redo the assignment and post responses of sufficient length. She continues to complain. I feel a headache coming on and wonder if perhaps HER Lenten promise is to come up with at least one petty complaint every day and not rest until she's sent at least give emails on the subject. I wonder what she's writing to her other teachers.

Considering all this, I remembered the story of the Israelites' journey through the desert and how they complained about the menu. Manna was boring - they'd had cucumbers and meat and all sorts of good things in Egypt. I remembered the Noble Truths of Buddhism - the meaning of the word dukkha in the First Noble Truth - often translated as suffering but perhaps more accurately means unsatisfactory - actually means that we cannot find eternal satisfaction in the transitory things of this life. Our thirst for and attachment to things that don't last is where our suffering lies. It is very similar in meaning to Jesus' remark to the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:13-14), "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Perhaps that is the root of our complaining - we are all, deep down, searching for something that cannot be found in this world.

All that said, I still want to bang and kick something ;).