The Sun over the Mountain

Just like that, we're down to the last weeks of summer. It's been a good one, for the most part. Work was educational, lucrative, and gave me a lot of help choosing my career path. Living here at the 467 has been even more informative; I'd like to think I was able to pass my man-training with fairly good results. In between there were trips, adventures, fun, friends, and once in a while a surprise or two. Who knew the choice to live at Lehigh would turn out to be so wise?

The thing that I want to take from this summer most, though, is the notion of what's important in life. The bottom line facing you every day is that for better or worse, the sun will set on today and will rise tomorrow. What you do during the hours in between determines who you are ... and more often than not, we focus on a lot of things that don't matter. If you skip an assignment, the sun will rise tomorrow. If you study a few minutes less, the sun will rise tomorrow. If you just flat out ignore all those nawing responsibilities you have in life, time will inevitably go on with or without you. Sure, there will be consequences, but you're the one who faces them. If you're ready to do that, whatever the consequences may be, then godspeed.

But, on the other hand, this idea can work against you. If you pass up the chance to see your friends, don't say something you need to, pass on an opportunity, say goodbye to someone, fail to call someone, stay angry in a fight, or walk out the door when you shouldn't ... the sun will rise tomorrow.

The trick to this is that the one constant in life is how fleeting it is. It goes back to some of the best advice I've ever received: "Figure out what makes you happy, and do it. Find out who makes you happy, and stay with them." As this relates to me ... I know that I don't want another year of strict academics and a deterministic adherence to getting work done. I don't want to sit in the lab hour after hour, day after day, watching the world go by. I want to be with the people in my life, learn who they are, make them laugh, and enjoy their company. It will take all the will power I have to actually turn off my desire to be the best and excel at my coursework all the time. But there's a balance to everything in life ... and it's about damn time I found it.

To this end, I am making a general declaration. Anytime this year, if you present me with a timely, reasonable proposition for fun or adventure, I am not allowed to decline it. Exceptions include the existence of plans of a similar nature or something that may affect the future (an exam, etc), but in general this will hold. My greatest motivation in life comes from the perception others have of me ... so in a way I'm partially relying on others to save me from myself. Remind me that I am a tool if I keep working and staying inside, question my manhood, and demand my presence at somewhere fun. I'll appreciate it more than you could know.

So that's my promise, watching the sun set on Bethlehem right now and counting down the hours to when senior year starts ...

I promise to live.

And, on a somewhat related note-

I promise to find courage.




Happy Sunday night.