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My AP English teacher once told me that I would get beaten up at least once in college for telling people I was a Republican. She made the comment in the middle of class, laughing as she said it. I don’t think it was necessarily meant as an insult, but the memory has stuck with me ever since.
A sentence has been on my mind lately. Most of the time I merely think it, but every once in a while I feel compelled to speak it. It’s straightforward, nothing that immediately conveys gravity or loftiness or wisdom. I don’t bow my head or pause before or after saying it. It’s really a quick mental remembrance before I carry on with my business. That sentence is, quite simply, “Look at where you are.”
Nearly every day since my sophomore year of high school, I have carried a U.S. Constitution in my left-hand pocket whenever I go out. People often ask me why. They’re usually fairly incredulous when they ask. It strikes many as odd, and I understand their reasoning. It strikes a few as honorable. Despite my brother’s warnings not to do so (I think the phrase he used was “social strike-out”), I’m going to tell you just one of the many reasons why I do this.
When I was 14 and in the seventh grade, I was diagnosed with ALL Type B, short for acute lymphoblastic leukemia of the B blood cells. I spent three years fighting the sickness through a combination of chemotherapy, prayer and sheer will. Today I am a cancer survivor. I don’t declare this in a Chronicle column for plaudits, attention or recognition. On the contrary, it is just a part of who I am. It is a part of my identity, a part of my past from which I draw strength and define my narrative and purpose in life. Being a cancer survivor is certainly not all that I am, but it is an important part and a part of which I am certainly proud.
The dreams of a student are fragile. They require nourishment, and Duke as an institution undoubtedly provides a great deal. But we’d be remiss if we were to accept carte blanche that dreams require only nourishment. On the contrary, they also require a great deal of protection. And we’d be negligent to think there isn’t anything during an undergraduate’s four years at Duke which didn’t pose a threat to a student realizing his or her ultimate life aspirations.
David Brooks had a great article last Thursday in The New York Times on American inequalities, detailing which were socially acceptable and which were not. I thought I’d give it a try, Duke-style of course. Note to reader—these are observations, not to be construed as normative judgments.
I’m quite proud of my familial roots. My grandpa and grandma on my father’s side legally emigrated to the U.S. from Germany. They sacrificed a great deal and worked a great deal harder so that my father and his siblings could go to college. They attended night classes to learn English and worked manual labor jobs. One of the most expensive purchases they ever made was a set of encyclopedias for their children.
I’m a Republican. I’m a conservative. I would vote for a balanced budget amendment. I would oppose legislatively expanding government influence. I would firmly hold that I know how to spend my money better than any bureaucrat in Washington D.C. I will debate you at length on any policy topic you might choose, but the key is that I’ll debate it in terms of policy. Let’s keep the personal out of it.
My high school friend told me the other day she was suddenly considering I-banking. I couldn’t have been more surprised. I-banking? Really? Let me provide some context. We’re talking about the friend who told me during every 6th-period A.P. economics class our senior year how much she hated, absolutely hated, “this class.” Now I know A.P. economics is a lot different than I-banking, but still, it’s not a stretch to say if you absolutely hate the former, you’re likely going to hate the latter.
“Don’t worry, we’re going to do something,” Tom Burnett reassured his wife, Deena, on Sept. 11, 2001 while they huddled together on United Airlines Flight 93. Passengers grouped together in the back of the plane made phone calls to their loved ones in the final moments. In the last minutes of the flight, Tom Burnett and others made the heroic decision to forcibly reclaim the cockpit from the four hijackers. They knew the terrorists intended to carry out a suicide mission and that it was the moment for action. Their valor that day likely saved the Capitol building.
Although it has been more than two weeks since North Carolina was awarded nearly $400 million in “Race to the Top” funding, the process to allocate funds among local districts, such as Durham County, is far from over.
