“Do you believe in miracles?” Professor Luke, a professor of philosophy in Liverpool University, said.
“Show of hands, please. Who believes in them?”
It was hard not to, since I was surrounded by four of them, the others went to attend other courses. Emma, Joseph, Chow and my mother were with me, learning philosophy, while the others, well… Mason was looking at what's new in Med school at Oxford University, Reed, who was sometimes joined by Chow, was bringing himself up to date with what's new in technology at the Royal academy Saundhurst, Rod was looking into the weapons department too, and Jack, well, he never stays put for more than fifteen minutes.
“Not a lot of hands are being raised I see… I guess you all had your shares of Fs in one or more courses, or had your heart broken… well, to see what the real psychology behind this is I must ask you one thing… we have two opposite sides, one who believes, and the other who doesn't...” Doctor Luke walked around the table and then sat on it, facing us.
“… My question is… What is a miracle?” something in the question had stirred everyone in the hall, even me.
“I see eyes looking away, I see someone over there scratching his head, I see someone… looking at me in a weird way…” he said, looking at one of the students who he always used him to lighten the mood in our lectures, his escape goat. Gary, the student, shook his head.
“Just kidding… anyhow, I see that no one can give me an answer, or at least no one can express what he or she or him” he pointed again at the same student and everyone laughed out loud, Gary was laughing the most. “…Or him” he continued after the laughs faded away, “thinks what a miracle is… so”
He gave that look; I knew what approach he will take every time he wanted to explain something through an experiment.
“Let's be cruel, shall we?” he said. His hands moved, showing a gesture, pretending to wear an imaginary hat.
“You know who I am right now… I'm Sir Colin, and you know what he did?” he pointed at Gary.
“You did some unethical experiments on people trying to uncover the secret of the human mind, and you died from the flu” He answered swiftly.
“Very good my favourite apprentice. So, I am here today to talk about another awful experiment that I want to take all your opinions about.’’
“It's one of those social experiment types. Let's say, we took a child and raised him in a place, like The Village, not the band, the movie. We taught him a different kind of life, no technology, nothing. He had never seen the sea; he doesn't even know that there is something called a sea. One day, after many years, we, the ones who are doing the experiment, came and placed him in the city, waking up in there, he sees different people, the cars, the huge buildings… etcetera. How do you think he would react? Or most importantly, what would he be thinking?... anyone? Just say anything”
“Scared?” One girl said.
“Most probably, yes… and now, here's the other question. If he was thinking one day before we threw him in the city, after living a boring life for many years, that he wishes for a miracle, or, if he had never became familiar with the concept, for some kind of magic, and then he wakes up there… what will he feel then? The answer each one of you has right now in his or her mind, even though you don't know it yet, it's what tells you what kind of a shrink you'll become and what's your approach would be.”
He took off his imaginary hat and threw it at the audience.
“Now… Christmas holiday…”
“YES!!” one student said.
“… Right back at you, so, Christmas holiday is coming, I hope you all have a wonderful time this year, I'll see you all then, have fun and… yeah, that's it… have fun… class dismissed”
The Professor became surrounded by many students, everyone liked him, it gave no chance for me to say hello and to wish him a happy holiday. I just got out of the class and went back to my dorm. The ghosts came back, Reed was extremely happy.
“Saundhurst rules” he said.
Joseph decided that I should go for a run. I was trying to do eight kilometers, or to Joseph's standards, five miles in less than an hour. I had a bad start, so after forty minutes, and after Chow realized that I won't make it at this pace, I started to pick up speed.
Five minutes later, something happened, someone who sat on a bench extended his leg. I thought he was trying to trip me but he pulled it back. It was obvious that he had no intention to hurt me, but he managed to catch my attention. I slowed down once it happened and when I turned to see who it was, the man smiled and waved.
“Professor Luke! Fancy seeing you here” I said.
“Good to see one of my students keeps himself in shape” he said. I answered only with a smile.
“You are Hassan, right?” he said. “I'm not in shape as you are, so why don't you have a seat; I'd like to say something to you, if you don't mind”
“Sure”
“You know… I had lost my passport once… bare with me, there's a point.” He said.
“So… I lost it as I was in holiday in another country, it was very hard and it took me so much time and energy to get back here. At that day I realized that in this world we are only known as papers, if we lost those papers, we are nothing, we don't exist, and other governments do not acknowledge us. It was a bad concept to have in a world like this, that's why I try to make myself known to everyone… So, future colleague, Doctor Hassan” I smiled when he said that, he was to this day my favourite professor.
“You are a bright young student, but I know that only from your papers, you do well in written exams, that's why I know your name, but you don't interact in the class often… the thing is, I have seen many doctors who became my colleagues, doctors who did well too, like you, but… the real world, not the paper world, is different. I know it's personal, but why don't I know you in the real world?” I couldn't give a good answer, but I had to say something.
“Well… doctor, I have this… well, I'm not sure you would understand, but, being in another country studying is something hard… it is to me. I don't interact just because I have this thing in my mind, which is to just do my time here and finish… I'm not sure it makes sense… but that's the best way I can explain it” his eyebrows raised. The answer wasn't good of course.
“Are you going away for the holiday?” he asked.
“Yes professor…” I looked in front of me, to where Mason was and then I hesitated.
“… I'm going to see my family in Emirates” I gave another answer.
“Dubai?” he asked.
“Abu Dhabi, actually”
“Have fun there; consider what I have just said. And by the way, it was not the loss of the passport that made me what I am today, it was the time I had spent in there that changed me… that's why you shouldn't just wait for your years to pass by, or you'll miss it. You have to know if you are a good psychiatrist or just a smart person”
“Thank you sir, I'll try to see what I can do”
“Good, now get out of here” he said.