The Diffusing of a Rhetorical Bomb

The final drops of perspiration are finally evaporating from the palms of my hands. My muscles begin to loosen and I breathe what I think will be a final sigh of relief. Then, out of the blue, the person standing next to me triggers a chain of events that causes the immediate destruction of my brief moment of relaxation.

It's a typical scene in colleges across the country: A shy student steps in front of his peers, terrified, but required to communicate to them publicly. This experience can be nerve-racking enough without the proverbial monkey wrench of a volatile fellow group member thrown into the equation.

To my understanding, the idea of a group discussion in any setting is to provide an open forum where people of different backgrounds and opinions may share ideas. However, some people differ from me in this belief. Take, for example, that monkey wrench I spoke of earlier, Belteshazzar. Allow me to recreate the situation as adequately as my memory will allow (the names have been changed to protect the guilty):

"Yeah, I find that really…uh…," Belteshazzar says.
"I believe that the reason that many," Mishael begins.
"Excuse me!" Belteshazzar exclaims. "But please don't interrupt me.
[I gulp]
"Whoa." Mishael says, taken aback by this forceful display.
"I'm not trying to be a jerk, but I don't appreciate you interrupting me," Belteshazzar reiterates.
[I begin seating all over again, knowing that he has no way out of this]
"Well, I'm sorry I didn't mean," Mishael starts.
"It is my presentation, ya know," Belteshazzar interrupts.
[The entire classroom gasps, while a few girls giggle in the corner]
"So anyway, what I was TRYING to say is……"

Now, far be it from me to pass judgement on a man who is possibly innocent of the crime of ill communication, but when did ownership of a presentation or position in a room give anyone a right to own a discussion. In fairness, during a group presentation the group takes on the role of the teacher. This temporary title, I suppose, comes with the right to stop or start conversations at your whim. But as we all know: "With great power comes great responsibility." I highly doubt any teacher would interrupt a precocious young student whose only desire is to take part in an intelligent class discussion, regardless of who spoke first.

To me, the most humorous part of this situation was the fact that I had predicted some similar string of events to myself earlier that day. As I prepared myself for presenting; which to me means downing to cups of tea and praying to several deities; I thought of all the possible problems I would encounter during the approaching presentation time. The very first thought that popped into my head, once I realized that I was more than prepared, was that of my new friend Belteshazzar somehow embarrassing himself. He is one of those people that you can imagine, while preparing for a party, laboriously contemplating either playing a CD of his own musings or The White Album on vinyl. As a tour guide or politician, this can be an admirable trait. However, as a human, loving the sound of one's one voice is usually deemed either annoying or downright narcissistic. Though this premonition should have prepared me for the horror to follow, as well as the laughing to follow that; it somehow escaped my grasp. With no forethought given to the disastrous results, I allowed our human time bomb to tick away while I breathed a sigh of relief from the release of the pressure of public speaking.

The moral of our story is when doing a group presentation; never think that the pressure is off just because your portion of speaking is over. As an intelligent and well-balanced individual, you may be called on at any time to diffuse a bomb painstakingly assembled and armed by one of your fellow scholars.