Religion 242 (World Religions)
Background:
I took this course the spring semester of my freshmen year. This course was heavily homework and discussion based. Although I disliked reading twenty pages and drafting one page papers every other night, it helped me prepare for the class discussions the next day. The readings and homework also helped me learn discipline and perseverance. With a busy spring semester schedule, I knew that I had to block out at least two hours to complete my religion homework.
Practicing Perseverance:
Every time I had to complete this homework, I had dreaded doing it– not because it was difficult, but because it was time consuming and required a lot of focus. Interpreting and comprehending different authors’ works from each religion required deep thought and reading each text multiple times. Sometimes, I would still be confused after reading the texts various times. Although learning about each religion was interesting, I had a hard time comprehending the complicated texts which were often translated from the original text’s language often written centuries before today’s time period. I would often be found sitting in the study lounge from 11pm to 2am completing homework after a Tuesday night game (and most times my brain wasn’t always as sharp then as it was during the day). I had learned to try to stay ahead of my homework and complete it during the day rather than late at night, so that I had a better chance of comprehending the text. As much as I had disliked the homework for this course, my grade depended on it, so I knew I had to follow Nike’s motto and “Just Do It.”
My biggest accomplishment from the class was my final exam paper which consisted of three large essays each containing three parts. It was a true test of willpower and of my knowledge from the second half of the semester. I have posted it below!
This paper compiled of all the major aspects of the three religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) learned in the second half of the semester. This final exam turned out to be eleven pages long and I had gotten an A+ on it! I had worked on it for three days in the midst of studying for my other final exams. Luckily, my professor had made it open note (due to the corona virus sending us all home) so the information was readily available; I just had to configure my ideas into a sensible paper before the due date. It was the longest paper I had written so far, and it taught me that hard work can pay off. Though procrastination was tempting (because of the paper’s length and because I was stuck inside my house), I knew I had to devote several hours to the paper. I hope that I can apply the perseverance I have developed to other difficult homework in the future.