After handing in her thesis, my friend told me that it was a terrible piece, something which she feels is a disgrace and a shame to be read by students to come. Well, she only started on her thesis a week before the due date, and her bibliography was only a page of 5 to 7 books.

The only thing that she was proud of in the entire thesis is her acknowledgement page.

She repeated that several times during our conversation as if she was not at ease with the entire issue of her underachieving and disappointing everyone who cared about her.

But I thought it fine, even if the acknowledgement is the only thing to be proud of in the entire thesis. In fact, that may be the only thing that I am proud of, because it is only part of the entire work that is deeply personal and profoundly original, unique to myself and no one else. It shows the path I took, it represents the way I relate to my work, it says the things which I may not have time to say, it is me.

Writing a thesis is very much like writing a resume. My notable achivements in 25 years of my existence on this blue lonely planet is typed and contained in 3 pages, presented in chronological order. I often look at it and laugh. Is that all to who I am? Does it matter to those who read that I can use a thousand adjectives to describe myself and still fail to be accurate and representative? Does it matter to them that I do not give a damn about any of my achievements in any of the 3 pages? Does it matter to them if my crowning moment was to stand up in a cafe thronging with a hungry crowd to thank my friends for celebrating my birthday? Does it matter to them that I was dying to put in my resume the age I picked up Nietzsche and the days I cried while reading him?

Do they want to know? Do they care?

Perhaps, perhaps not. All I know is that I am supposed to show them what they want to see.