So, as I am sure many other college students are experiencing right now, I am currently doing my best to avoid studying for my finals even though I know full well that I need to do amazingly on them to get the grades I want this semester. Sorry for that obnoxious run-on by the way. But seriously, I can never focus.
This morning was great, I met up with one of my friends and we walked to a bridge downtown and got to see the sun come up over Raleigh. Which, I am proud to say, is developing a skyline of sorts. There is something about getting up before the sun and getting to see the city wake up around you. Feeling the bridge you're standing on shake under feet with every passing car. Standing in the quiet with a good friend that helps you see that the world is bigger than the bubble that you put yourself in. Mine is currently NC State and all that entails. Actually, I would realistically say that I have multiple bubbles: my family at home, then more exclusively my sisters and myself, as well as my bible study through my church, another bible study a friend introduced me to, then there is the Honors Program, the Ben Franklin Program, and finally the United Way club. I'm sure there are more, but I am not going to try and list them right now. We put ourselves in these bubble and forget that the world will keep going without us if we stop paying attention. Then, when we catch a glimpse of reality it can knock us off our feet.
Living in and growing up in today's America, we are taught to focus on ourselves, to make sure that things work out for us, often at the expense of others. If you want to go deeper with that, the "American Dream" is really a one man on top scenario in the first place: You can't have everything without taking something from someone else. Lets call that the Conservation of Things. Anyway, that tells us that living in a bubble is completely acceptable, and keeps us from developing a fully formed idea of what the world is really like. Without understanding the world around us, we are content to simply think that we are the best and couldn't possibly have anything to learn from anyone else.
I find this to be extremely sad, and am often disappointed with the problems that America thinks it has. When I look at the news and the most pressing issue in America (that is spoken of) is that of marijuana being legalized while other places in the world are dealing with massive natural disasters and drastic social revolutions I can't help but think that we are ignorant in our wealth. I say wealth to mean that most have food enough to eat and a place to sleep at night, not to mention the amazing technology we have at our fingertips almost every second of the day.
It seems that this post has developed in a way that I wasn't expecting, and I'm not sure what the point I'm trying to make is, but thank you for reading this far.
...still thinking..
.. To all of you college/university students out there going through finals with me, just remember: Although studying is important and I'm not advocating for unpreparedness, the world is bigger than you probably realize. In the long run, this one set of finals will most likely not have that great of an impact on the rest of your life.
Good luck everyone, and God bless,
Mo
