The Grapes Of Wrath: A Short Story

This is the crisis of each and every student that is out of time. That snail paced world they live in is now turning itself around and harming them. Their gate is now closing, leaving them with nothing but shattered dreams, and as they weep over said aspirations, they are unaware that God’s gate has been closed all this time. They feel his wrath that before was like a pesky fly hovering over the hot bowl of life. Now that sluggish fly has morphed into an omnipotent wasp, ready to sting them at any given moment with its infectious stinger. Yet their attendance record is not in the the best form it can be either. It’s moments away from falling to its death and ultimately disintegrating right in front of their eyes. In just a brief second they
are finished, without a way to get back to either gate; stuck in a world of abhorrence and nothingness. But even with this happening right in front of them, they still don’t seem to bat a single eyelash.

The unhealthy actions that have been obtained by these students are not doing them any good. It has led to bad tardiness habits that are practically ineffable. They seem oblivious to the the consequences of repetitive truancies. Many students only add on to these behaviors instead of mitigating them, like in a hit-and-run incident - the person responsible only ignores the situation, leaving the appalling wreck on the street and the victim to fend for themselves. The only way they may survive this crash is with help of firefighters or bystanders which in turn act as the students’ parents coming into the office to clear up the messy situation. This only makes the students unconcerned and unprepared for the real world. Not to mention as irresponsible as a destructible lightning storm that passes through the city, not caring if it was someones house that just caught on fire. Or if the constant rain fall has flooded the small towns- not caring if anyone gets hurt, like a tardy student that gets flooded with homework.

The most common excuse for all students is how it’s there first time being tardy. This excuse can be understandable for some of them, but not for other individuals. For instance, its the day before a big test that involves the use of great oratory, the one that determines whether the student passes the class or instantly fails it. The student has spent the much of the night studying for the test. They go to bed, only to be awaken a few hours later by the dolorous ringing of the alarm clock. The student’s constitution is still tired , but surely gets out of bed taking their time when they suddenly sneak a peek at the alarm clock. The realization of being 30 minutes behind schedule hits them fast and has them quickly packing their materials and running out the front door. They make it with only 15 minutes left of class, too late to take the test. The student has undoubtedly failed the class and would probably be forced to repeat the semester. For these particular students it can be believed, the other half however are big, lousy liars. Others use the ‘Bus was late’ or ‘Alarm didn’t go off’. Then there are some students that use the ‘It’s only a few minutes’ excuse to reassure themselves that the few minutes won't affect them at all.

Being tardy is like disobeying one of God’s rules, it haunts you every day and makes you feel uncomfortable at the single thought of it, like a dark and gloomy cloud hanging above your head, following you around each and every day.
Yes, students have used excuses back and forth, over and over again. But saying that it is one time, and that it will not happen again is pointless and weak. It’s unnecessary reasons like these that makes God’s wrath seem like a forest fire that only seems to grow larger as time passes by, and if you are caught in the lie, the flames only grow higher and destroy more. It won’t stop until the truth has been freed. Because if it does happen again, will the students actually man up and acknowledge their mistakes before it comes to haunt them? Or will it dissolve like the burning of paper as the flame begins waxing across and darkening in color? And what about the students that think a few minutes will not affect them at all? Don’t they know that a few short minutes can mean a lot between life and death? Yes, class may not be dangerous, but it should be thought of as a battlefield. A few meters off the target and you might end up dead instead. Later you will be asking for a second chance, but there are no extra chances in life, especially with God’s
grace.

But just like on that battlefield, there is always that little hope in the back of even the slowest person’s mind that helps them push forward. Sometimes there are those few students that are bereft of all feeling for schoolwork, none the less still attempt to wane their tardiness, and attempt to be in God’s grace once again. Those students often are able to make a complete 360 turn in their life that ultimately changes them forever. But not before seeing a kind of white burst of light flashing slowly through their eyes indicating that their chance has arrived. And when the day arrives, they shouldn’t hesitate the moment, rather they should just get down on their knees, beg, and ask for forgiveness, instead of pining away, because this chance will only happen once. But after the day that it arrives their lives will never be the same again. Though, perhaps it was the rhetoric in their head that would help them reach the one chance.

Although, that does not mean that God will completely end his violent wrath just to give you a second chance whenever you seem to be in need of one. But God’s wrath is like a tsunami, it takes a while to reach the island but once it hits, all hell breaks loose as people run around to find salvation from the destructive waves. Then finally at the end of it all, the calmness is restored throughout each individual. The golden opportunity is among us, as God’s wrath washes away, all that will be left is the reminiscence of the day in which the hands of the clock seemed to be ticking faster than usual.