While Plato, Emerson, and even Freud may have much to offer, what for the case of the man (or woman) who has already chosen a lens with which to view the world? What for the person who has already defined themselves more deeply than a passing exploration of these works can commit? The realm of a University is both a shield and a battleground. It is a place where ideas can be shared, expanded, and approached in a multitude of ways within a "safe" environment, as we considered in class. It is also a place that challenges all previous definitions of self, purpose, and goals. This is an opportunity to engage a large number of unique and competing worldviews and attitudes; to truly assess your own values, priorities, and views. This is an opportunity for the tough questions to be asked, the hard decisions to be made, and your own independent words and actions to sow your most deeply resonating ideals.
It has been some time since I was a freshmen. The initial adjustment was a very difficult process. I spent much of my time clinging to everything I knew before. As it faded, I found I was, unexpectedly, a slightly different version of the person I had tried to remain. The subtle changes of the psyche formed in this time I cannot fully comprehend. An education, an exploration, life itself has the capacity to alter perceptions. In the engagement with something so much bigger than myself, as well as so many others in the same position, I developed new mindsets, a deeper appreciation for who I was, who we all are, and what we really were here for.
What of the quantification of success? How distorted is this beast we call the American dream. Edmundson confronts the unfortunate realities of the debt to the system incurred in pursuit of material wealth and esteem. The true meaning exists far beyond the material, far beyond the monetary. While I would agree that it is wiser to choose a career for the sake of your passion rather than your back account, even that will not complete you. Then there are the multitudes who are content declining the academic inclination and instead investing themselves in pleasure: parties, booze, sex; temporal euphoric stimulation.
What are we really here for? We have been given a grand opportunity. We are the molding minds, the makers of a future, a new generation of leaders, thinkers, and doers. We have a responsibility to the world, to our friends, to our families, to each other, and to ourselves to capitalize on this. What we have is, undoubtedly, a world of possibilities. Yes, life is indeed elsewhere, in the abstract spaces of meaning that much of academia cannot address, but some of the most profound shaping of that life begins here. Engage, analyze, decide for yourself. Spend it wisely. Spend it strongly.