How many times on the bus have you overheard someone bemoaning his or her life at the University:
"I had to stay up all night last night, and I still have to finish my 10-page paper."
"I really want to teach scuba diving in Jamaica this summer, but I have to take orgo."
Although these conversations are so commonplace at the University that we are all used to them, they should be startling, even shocking. These statements are simply false: No one has to stay up all night, take orgo over the summer or even write any papers.
In his book, "Man's Search For Meaning," Victor Frankl recounts that even as a Nazi prisoner of war during the Holocaust, he still made choices, however small; most importantly, he could choose his attitude. If Frankl could recognize that he still had the power of choice in a prison camp, why is it so hard for students to acknowledge the huge range of possible choices lying before them?
You can blow off homework for a night and get some sleep, refuse to hand in your 10-page paper or opt out of summer session organic chemistry-hell, you can drop out of the University and become a professional scuba instructor in Jamaica for the rest of your life. These are all feasible possibilities, so what you end up doing is a choice you make whether you do it consciously or not.
I am not arguing that you shouldn't stay up all night writing papers or take orgo over the summer. We simply need to acknowledge that these are all choices made based implicitly or explicitly on personal values.
How much more interesting would those conversations on the bus be if we admitted responsibility for our decisions?
"I stayed up all night writing a paper last night because I think grades are more important than any given night's sleep. Students who graduate with good grades usually get high-paying jobs. Besides, most girls don't want to go out with a guy who's failing school."
"I've decided to be a scuba instructor in Jamaica this summer instead of taking orgo because at this age I think it's more important to follow your passions than prepare for a career, although my parents don't agree."
Recognizing that nearly everything we do is done out of our own volition gives a whole new dimension to the common cycle of class, homework, hang out, class, homework, etc. A common attitude exists at the University that every student has one major decision to make each week: "Do I stay in this Friday night or do I go out and get loaded?"
This clearly is not the only decision to be made and is not even that important when placed in the context of the myriad choices presented to us every day. Life becomes much more interesting and challenging when we recognize the thousands of little choices we may miss every day:
"Should I hold the door for the person coming into the Pitts behind me?"
"While I wait for class, should I review my notes or start a letter to my mom?"
"While riding the East-West bus, should I read five pages in my book or try to think of a birthday gift for my friend?"
Seeing life as a constant stream of decisions is a building-block for any success or achievement. In his book, "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People," Stephen Covey defines responsibility as "response able," or being able to respond to a situation instead of being carried along by it. The ability to see choices combined with a central organizing principle or slant on how to make those choices is what gives you the power to create or achieve.
A great filmmaker must constantly see the world through a camera. Even going out for a casual dinner, he watches the people at the other tables as if they were potential characters for his movie. At the same dinner, a successful businessman would scan the room adding up the cost of the labor, overhead and supplies needed to run the restaurant, wondering where other markets exist for such a restaurant. At the same restaurant, an average person would simply see a plate of food in front of him that he has to eat. That person would miss all the possibilities hidden in the details of the situation. These details are what give life its richness-a richness that is not to be paralleled in just three hours on Friday night.
James Todd is a Trinity senior.
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