It was quite an interesting question thought the young man named Drake. However what truly amazed him was how the teacher without any effort had managed to ensnare the entire class onto the topic. For a class of 200 he had not only made all the students learn his first lesson but he had even made the students who sat in the back manage to further think about the subject matter.

Somehow he went through the entire room and had managed to make Drake the last student to be called on. Drake stood up ready to talk about his thought process behind what he thought philosophy meant only to hear the professor say I think we have the general gist of what philosophy is. It wasn't only Drake who had expected that he would be next but the entire class expected him to be next. This led to some students snickering at his misfortune and the obvious attempt by the professor to snuff him do to his tardiness.

Instantly it clicked for Drake of what the professor had done, this whole charade of interacting with the students on the first day was done in order to send a message that students who show up late will be ill-treated. Quite affective, he thought, I'll have to use this method in the future. He began to smirk thinking, this might not be so bad, I just hope the rest of the professors will be this interesting.

The professor then began explaining of what exactly philosophy in his words was and how it did not just come about in one place and it is similar to how the Neolithic movement occurred in which there were multiple different regions that were completely separated from each other had their own development of philosophy and how it impacted their regions.

“Now we aren’t exactly in a class for world history however it is still an important topic because certain philosophy ideas had much larger affects due to cultural influence. For example during the pre-colonial time for what we consider as Latin America, they actually had a similar exploration of questions relating to the core ideas of philosophy however as a result of Spanish and Portuguese conquerors their ideas were deeply influenced resulting in a very European idea of philosophy. The original pre-colonial ideas were vastly different and were impacted by the largest civilizations of Latin America at the time such as the Mayans and Aztecs, unfortunately due to heavy enslavement of the indigenous people most of their ideas were forcefully suppressed and desecrated by the new rulers. What’s left are the ancient temples and the occasional backwater villages that were not completely destroyed or stripped of all their history…”

He then began explaining the sphere of influence of certain philosophy ideas and how certain regions were influenced by other regions. The most interesting information for me was the impact of the three religions that came about from the Middle East and how it nearly affected nearly all parts of the world. He then ended the lecture saying to read the designated chapters listed in the syllabus for the next class since we will have an open discussion pertaining to that information.

Most of the students immediately got up and left the room while others either lingered around for a bit more or had a discussion with the professor. In the meantime Drake took out his phone and made a call, all you could hear if anyone was playing close attention were some random words that didn’t even sound like a conversation was taking place. Eventually new students started streaming into the room while all the ones talking to professor began leaving, then motioning to Drake to follow him out obviously signifying he wanted to talk somewhere else.

On the way out the professor asked,

“Was that phone call your ‘work’?”

“Yes it was.”

“You were talking in code specified by the company you work in, I presume? Don’t answer that. We aren’t here to talk about that.”

“What exactly are we here to talk about, professor…?”

Immediately the professor started snickering, “Kid you’re definitely interesting, you speak in codes, show up late without even making a sound, and don’t even know what the name of your professor is even though your signed up for his class.”

Drake replied, “You’re just as interesting, you actually noticed my presence, have supernatural hearing, and actually managed to pay back a grudge.” Musing quietly in his head, I can’t even remember the last time that it’s happened besides when my family was still alive.

Nonchalantly he replies, “Ah, you noticed? Well don’t be too shocked that happens every single time I teach a new class. If there isn’t any kid late for the first class, I do it for whoever is the first student that shows up late for my class, its actually really quite fun and has unintendedly become a habit after all these years. Oh… Yes, my name is Thomas Smyth, you can call me Smyth. Well your definitely one of the students I’ll be keeping an eye on, you have such an interesting character, it’s just too good to pass up on you. Now Mr. Drake, what exactly is your answer to the question I presented to the class earlier?”

“If I remember correctly the question you proposed to us was, what exactly is philosophy and how did it come about? Well the answer to the first part of the question is, in my words, the exploration of the fundamental truths of the world and to comprehend them. As for the second part of the question I don’t have an answer because I have almost next to no knowledge about philosophy hence why I’m taking this class.”

“Hmm… Quite a smart young lad too aren’t you? Actually realizing that there’s two questions and understanding the depth of difficulty to answer the second part. Now I have a question personally just for you. Why are you here?”

Drake paused mid step realizing he was standing in the middle of a parking lot near a very nice car that was definitely a classic with a logo he didn’t realize. He then also realized that he was caught yet again by the words of the mysterious Mr. Smyth as if he was a small fly caught in a very large spider web. Thinking to himself, just who is this guy, not once or twice but three times I’ve been enamored by this man and the question he asked this time also has a double meaning.

Taking a few seconds to mull over what just happened to himself, he then answered, “Well in regards to why I’m in the parking lot is because you sir are just as interesting of a specimen while the other part of this question is simply because I didn’t have a choice and was forced to attend college.”

“Well, I expected that since you used work as an excuse for your first day of college. Now I have one more question for you at the moment but this one is special, you will answer this the last time you have class with me, you see to have the proper answers you must first know the proper question. Now this is not the question but if I tell you it, you must attend class.”

“Okay, I accept. I was going to attend your class anyway it’s just too interesting. Now what’s the question?”

Looking at the young man he nodded at himself and asked,

“What are you?”