A couple of people in my class have dropped out already. The first one disappeared right after OrSem. I don't know whether she transferred to an evening class or dropped out of law school altogether. But I haven't seen her since the OrSem, and I don't think she attended any of the Intro to Law classes.

Then, there's this guy who used to sit in front of me in class. After two days of regular classes, he just disappeared. A classmate said that this guy was planning to work at this known company, and because it's virtually impossible to mix law school and a steady job, he'd probably drop out. And he did.

I also hear that about a dozen in the freshman batch has already dropped out. Pretty big chunk of the 250 or so freshmen, considering that we've only had two weeks of classes so far, including the Intro to Law week.

In UP, meanwhile, I hear that this genius former batchmate in Ateneo just dropped out, too. Not because he couldn't handle the load. It was because he was already unhappy with it. So...he dropped.

Some people would call them stupid for letting an opportunity-of-a-lifetime slip through their fingers. Some people would think they wasted a perfectly good future for a high-risk, uncertain one. Not to mention the money that they've already spent for a portion of the tuition fee and photocopies and, oh God, the ridiculously expensive books.

Maybe some people are right. But then, I'm more inclined to think that these people are actually more courageous than stupid. For the same reasons that some people would think of them as stupid. And I kind of envy them for it.

Sometimes it takes so much more courage to leave, when you know it's not for you, than to stay. How easy is it, really, to let go of that opportunity-of-a-lifetime and face a future so uncertain and terrifying in search of another opportuntiy-of-a-lifetime that is better suited for you, knowing that you may never find it? It takes guts to even acknowledge to yourself that you've made a big mistake, and to actually try to do something to rectify that mistake.

Oh, yes, I do envy them for that courage.

As Sheriff Lamb said in Veronica Mars, "Go see the wizard. Maybe he can get you some courage."

And so I stay / in this box I've built, / a box only I can see, / a box only I can feel, / until it is the only thing / that you can see, / the only thing / that you can feel... / ...there's nowhere to go, / no way to run. / I'm not just a mime / in an imaginary box.