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Volume CXXXII, Number 4 |
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Looking up from the gutter
ACADIA SENESE
COLUMNIST
This is the last Parent's Weekend I will enjoy at Bowdoin College with my family, and it seems only yesterday that it was my first. Four years are but a blink in the wrinkle of time here. Years of preparation for college, four years of Bowdoin, and a lifetime of opportunity suddenly blend themselves together this weekend. Bowdoin is a crossroads, and it is at this crossing that I now find myself.
The quad-where all walkways cross on campus-has always been my favorite part of Bowdoin, and autumn, in jealous defiance of summer, entices the leaves to turn their most brilliant colors. As a salute to a pleasant summer, and a welcome to a long winter, the quad dresses itself well for Parent's Weekend. But while autumn and the quad's brilliant colors are beautiful, they will not be the only thing discussed this weekend as current events shape our futures.
We as students face an uncertain time upon graduation. The world, no longer stable and predictable as it once may have been, stresses the Bowdoin bubble, and soon we seniors will find ourselves amidst a world in which change and unpredictability rule the day. Not since the Cold War have we found ourselves residents of a nation in which political fray and economic insecurity headline the news daily. More and more of our own population, and the world's population, are finding themselves in the gutter. Less and less are realizing there is a sky full of stars. Even fewer are able to reach those stars.
Bowdoin has trained us all very well to recognize those stars, to pick out the bright ones, and to shoot straight for them. If there is one positive thing in a changing world, it's that each of us-the young and enthusiastic-can impact the world in any way in which we imagine. The world begs for us to burst the Bowdoin bubble, and with that, to bring to the world energy and ideas that will make the starry night a little clearer for everyone in this world.
I owe all my success and opportunity to my family, and if there is one certain thing in this world, it's that family will always be the most critical, influential, and important aspect of our lives. If nothing else, Parent's Weekend celebrates that importance. But implicit in that celebration is that family will guide our decisions throughout our lives. And by that characteristic, Bowdoin is itself a family. At a crossroads or not, Bowdoin's education will serve us all well in life.
No matter which path I choose to take on the quad this year, I am very thankful that my family showed me the stars at a very young age. Bowdoin made them a whole lot brighter, and it's up to me - to all of us - to keep looking up. We may be expecting winter up here in Maine as autumn's crisp air paints the quad, and winter's darkness looms near, but darkness brings stars, and, well, stars are what we're looking for.