The Easy Way Out
“What is going to happen now?” was the lingering question… I sat in my advisors office, which had a Certificate of Graduation from Brandeis University hanging on the wall above her busy desk. Though Mrs. Jenkins had a lot of décor hanging around her office, the certificate was the only thing I noticed.
            Mrs. Jenkins took a deep breath trying to hide the disappointment and fear that filled her eyes. She started to talk about “Best case scenario….” But after those three words I checked out because no one cares about Best Case Scenario.  We hope for best case scenario but expect worst-case scenario. I finally removed my gaze from the certificate and turned my head towards Mrs. Jenkins. I stopped her and asked, “what about worst case scenario?”
            “Well…” she paused and took another deep breath… “You could get kicked out of school, but that’s absolute worst case.”
My emotionless gaze slowly shifted back to the Certificate of Graduation. The navy blue font was in a medieval, old English style. Under the name of the college, “Brandeis University” was the Brandeis University Seal. It was circular and within a thick, blue, outer rim of a circle, it read Brandeis University. Within the circle were two tablets, which held the first 10 letters of the Hebrew alphabet.  The certificate was in a bold, black frame. The bold frame and where it was located indicated that Mrs. Jenkins was proud of having gone to Brandeis.
            “You’re going to have to go to judicial council. Make sure you are as sincere as possible…… Sam… Are you listening?”
“Yeah.” My gaze was still focused on the certificate. I was now wondering if I would ever get mine.
“Do you understand?”
“Yeah.”
Two days later I found myself in Mrs. Mackenzie’s office at 7:15 in the morning. Mrs. Mackenzie is the school principal. I had never been in her office before. Her office was a lot nicer than Mrs. Jenkins’. It was a large room filled with nice furniture. Her office had a couch and a table with chairs. The desk was twice the size of Mrs. Jenkins’ desk.
            The last time I was in the principal’s office was 5th grade and the principle was my father. I remember we sat in silence for 5-10 minutes. Then finally he said, “We will talk about this at dinner.” I knew the conversation with Mrs. Mackenzie wouldn’t be anything like that.
            Sleep deprived, anxiously awaiting the outcome of my future, I heard my case being read in front of judicial council which included Mrs. Mackenzie, four teachers as well as eight of my classmates. I wondered what the teachers and students that filled the room thought of me before this meeting and what they’d think of me after. Disappointment seemed to be the general emotional consensus. Don’t get me wrong, I was disappointed in myself but other people being disappointed in me hurts even more. 
I was lucky my outcome was best-case scenario. This one mistake made me realize how one minute you can have everything and in an instant it can be taken away. I look back on all of my high school years and felt invincible, like nothing could ever happen to me. This incident gave me a rude awakening that we may think we are untouchable until we get caught. All the time and effort I put into building my life during high school could have so easily been take away. Now as I think about that Brandeis Certificate hanging in Mrs. Jenkins office, I understand why it was hung where it was and how proud she is of it. I only can aspire that someday I can be in a similar situation and have someone gazing up at my certificate.