Confessions of a Cat-holic (153)

The Jews at Columbia were very conservative. They could not take the elevator or even touch anything connected to electricity on a certain day in the week so they had occupied all the lower floors (first to third floor) across all the halls at Columbia. They could not work, or even turn on the lights or computers on that day every week. So Columbia had accommodated their needs to free Friday of all classes. You could see how big of an influence these Jews had on the school. I didn't have to follow that rule, of course. I was quite grateful for this school policy though, which meant that I had an extra day off. The class credit stood for the number of hours of class per week. Normally, I maintained a class credit of around 18-20 which meant that I would have to attend school for around 20 hours at least, including some TA sessions. It was totally manageable. I usually had classes on four days of the week, and I usually packed my classes in a way I had my Thursday evening off, so it would mean that I only had to go to class for three and a half days per week.

Even though Columbia was known to embrace very left winged and liberal political views, I had to say that most of the students at Columbia were sexually conservative. We didn’t have unisex bathrooms and I had never seen a condom on campus, except for those brought by Ed all the way from New Haven, Connecticut. It was quite a contrast to Yale. I was petrified to see free condoms everywhere when I visited Ed. And when we were about to get intimate in our dorm rooms, he felt no shame whatsoever in taking out his bag of condom collection. I was pretty sure there were over 80 condoms, all of different flavors, sizes and brands, in that Edmond's precious treasure bag. And he was so thrilled to tell me that they were all for free, which kind of got me thinking, gosh, what kind of sex drive did these Yalies have? Eight days a week, would that be enough? I had occasionally also seen guys running naked on campus at Yale. Apparently, it was their tradition to break free and go wild the day before their midterms and exams. Well, I would not comment on that. I could just say that I was in the right school, in the right hands, in the right community and the right city, with the right people of the right minds and right values. I was very grateful to be part of the Columbia student body. If it wasn't Ed, I would not have loved my alma mater so much.

I remembered that Ed used to sing me a song solo when he was going after me. He said he liked that song very much. It was "The End of the World" by Jay Chou. Some twenty years had passed since that day he sang me this song. Maybe I would like to give him a reply.

Hey Jude, don't make it bad. Take a sad song and make it better. Remember to let her into your heart, Then you can start to make it better.

Hey Jude, don't be afraid. You were made to go out and get her. The minute you let her under your skin, Then you begin to make it better.

And anytime you feel the pain, hey Jude, refrain, Don't carry the world upon your shoulders. For well you know that it's a fool who plays it cool By making his world a little colder.

Hey Jude, don't let me down. You have found her, now go and get her. Remember to let her into your heart, Then you can start to make it better.

So let it out and let it in, hey Jude, begin, You're waiting for someone to perform with. And don't you know that it's just you, hey Jude, you'll do, The movement you need is on your shoulder.

Hey Jude, don't make it bad. Take a sad song and make it better. Remember to let her under your skin, Then you'll begin to make it Better better better better better better, oh.

Na na na nananana, nannana, hey Jude...

I hoped he finally understood where I was coming from. I hoped that he would see one day that Edmond, the 4.0 GPA valedictorian from Yale University and the head boy of my rival school Wahyan, came from a different universe and that our values and belief systems were the polar opposites of each other. We were indeed the Romeo and Juliet of Sarajevo.