Blunder and the Beast

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It's a Saturday..

And I have only just finished invigilating the Special Examinations for the First Year students..

Funny thing is, the exam season is over... And they had already taken this exam before...

So why am I here invigilating an exam, when exam season is over, and the students had already taken this paper before, when it is a Saturday where I should be resting at home?

Ladies & gentlemen, welcome to the record-setting blunder of the century (as far as my department goes). I am not a liberty to divulge any details, but suffice to say something happened that made the validity of the exams questionable. And so it goes, the students had to resit the paper again...all 2000-odd students from the entire First Year cohort of the entire University... Setting a record indeed.

What I had seen these past 2 months has indeed been a test of courage against adversity against many malignant forces, with true integrity shown by the few chosen people... The implications of the the blunder were enormous, and after the ensuing witch-hunt, the question arose - Do the faculty and department hang the hapless, accidental offender out to dry, or do they take the fall as a team?

I am proud to say they chose the latter.

The dean, deputy deans, and the head of department, standing side by side, shields tight and swords held high. 

The path they chose - Take the fall, revamp the system, reschedule the make-up exam, send out letters of apology, remake the exam paper, retake the exam, remark the scripts, and resubmit the marks.

Of course, when it comes to actually doing the work, every man and woman in the department had to bear the brunt. 

Some almost cracked from the strain, from the incessant, overwhelming burden. 

Some were crying for blood, beastly in their demeanour, full of indignance . 

However, some realised that it could have been any one of them who had made the blunder, and these were the chosen few who trudged on, regardless of the toil and turmoil the were subjected to.

At the end of the day, if it had been them, would they have personally taken the fall, or would they have been glad that their colleagues, their compatriots, were willing and able to stand by them in their darkest hour?

I know I would have...