This is it friends, my final article. I’ve come to the end of a very winding 4 year road, and I am graduating this year. This tremendous event has caused me to look to the future every day to try and figure out where I can and where I must go.
In the process of looking to the future, I have turned to the past. There, one can find all of their past mistakes, their triumphs, and the lessons that they learned from them. I hope to pass on some of my lessons to you, dear reader, and give an outlook of what the future may hold.
The biggest lesson I learned at college was to not be afraid to fail. Let me make it clear, you will fail at something during your life. Now, it might not be a class, or a test, but it could be a bombed job interview, or even letting down a friend.
But it does not define you or make you a failure. It is a part of life. It is natural. Failing can only make you stronger if you examine what went wrong and attempt to change it in the future.
An equally important lesson came to me through my time at the Honors College where they taught me to “follow my passion.” The first step in this is to find out what your passion really is.
This can be a long and winding process in itself, but when you find it, you will know it. You will find a career, a cause, a major that will set your soul on fire, and that may be your passion.
You may have several passions in your life, and at times, your passion may change. But always pursue it.
Look to the future, but do not live in it. It is OK to plan for your future, great even, but do not let it get in the way of the present.
Life is constantly changing and you may not end up where you expect, and you may not arrive the way you thought you would.
That is OK. There are events in life that are going to be out of your control, but there is always time for adjustments and changes. You must always live in the present and take life as it comes.
That’s all I have for general advice, friends, but as you know I tend to wax political.
If you are not interested in a political commentary, stop here and have a good summer!
I have never attempted to hide my political feelings in my writings or in my everyday life. In fact, I was once accused of “being somewhere left of Lenin,” which, honestly, is probably true.
That said, I am disturbed at the global trend of populist right-wing governments (including our own), and I know many others who are disturbed as well. Our response on the Left should be clear: resist. Politically, economically, socially, we must resist those things which we can not abide.
We must now, more than ever, become active politically. I have heard many on the Left say that it is revolutionary to not participate politically because if you do then you are a part of the system.
The truth is, you already are. Your life, your job, your gender, your sexuality, where you live, your income, your health, it is all already political. By not participating in politics, you allow others to dictate laws that will affect you. It is a treason of the self.
In the end, we must look to the future and plan for a better, brighter tomorrow.
