So far this summer hasn't been much
different from the Fall and Spring semesters most college kids usually gruelingly go through. I still have class, albeit only one at time, but since it is
delivered in a much more succinct time span, it has been somewhat demanding.
I still work, ten hours more than I did during the Fall and Spring, yet this
current job is pretty much over when I leave the office. Being a Graduate Assistant for
Residence Life services, I found out rather quickly, is a 24/7 job. I love it, but I
suppose since I have a tiny bit more free time and less on the mind, I should use it wisely and update my blog. It's been a while.
I go into work around 8 am and leave
around 2 or 3 pm. I come home, make lunch, relax for a bit, maybe read, then
start my summer class work load. If it's nice out I end outside on an evening
cruise snapping pictures of the now vacant and much more quaint Clarion
University campus. It's really peaceful, but somewhat eery after a while
if you're used to the chaotic nature of the full-swing sessions.
Either way, I've been trying to make the best of my summer by indulging in some
long-lost hobbies and catching up on some of my favorite topics; political
economics, philosophy, public policy, and political science. I know I
know, I live an exhilarating life. Sometimes I don't know how I handle all of
the excitement.
Yet as I type these tiny 12 inch
Times New Roman words onto this pastel white script page, I think of something
a friend, I guess someone I consider to be a good friend, recently told
me. That I tend to act as if the world is my diary. What this person meant was that I am somewhat
open with my life, what's happening in it, where I'm from, where I'm going, or
at least planning on going, and who I am, with anyone that asks. I guess this is a unique
characteristic and maybe that's why I've always been interested in people,
their stories, and the various nuances, complexities, and visceral moments that
define who we are. To me nothing is more fascinating than the human
experience and all it entails because it is the foundation of all facets of
existence. Everything we are and what we have done has led to every tit
bit of knowledge we now have or at least claim to have.
The older I get (I'll be turning the
ripe old age of 24 come July) the more I realize I need to find what I truly
value. For I know I'm not someone who could ever drudge through some
tedious career even if it provided substantial pay unless I really loved
it. Well, lately I've been starting to focus on some potential paths that
may lead to such a career. I've always thought if I valued humans and the
infinite intangibles we experience, what better a role is there to play than
someone who helps maintain and encourage such things to prosper?
To me that means dealing with the
fundamental structures that make society work. The macro issues, the big
picture; I look at it all and I see relevance. I see how the words
of a 13th century Middle Eastern mystic such as Rumi paint a perfectly
pan-optic work of existence, how that has influenced various cultures and
historical events in the region, and how those occurrences have gone to
influence such things as the Western Renaissance, Classical Western Philosophy
and Religion, and thus our Liberal Democratic institutional ideals, through
interactions over time.
Maybe that's why I think,
"Cloud Atlas," by David Mitchell, is perhaps one of the most
important works in the modern Western library.
"Our lives are not our
own. We are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime and
every kindness, we birth our future."
That comes straight from the pages
of Mitchells's, in my opinion, Magnus Opus, and I have never read a line that has truly grasped such a concept better than that quote right there; because
it's true. I'm sure we all know people who have impacted our lives.
Some of them may no longer be with us, but we feel or we justify via whatever
parameters of logic and understanding that best work for us, that in some way
shape or form they are still with us. Whether you believe it's through a
perhaps ethereal concept such as the spirit, or whether it's the actions,
ideals, and emotional impressions that person bestowed upon you, we value that individual and thus they still live on through our own cognition. And no
matter if you have children of your own, friends, or family, those impressions
will shape and guide your actions toward them; thus continuing the chain.
So what does this all mean?
Why I am I ranting at 1:45 am when I could probably be catching up on some
worry-free weekend sleep, even though it's been proven one cannot truly "catch
up" on sleep? Casual verbal social lubrication aside, I guess I
just wanted to open up the pages of my diary and share what's on my mind.
Maybe someone will read this and take value to what I say, or maybe no one
will. Who cares, it's just nice to get it out there I suppose.
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