On the joys that lie ahead

Harry Scherer
Class of 2022

(8/2019) As my classmates and I transition into our second year of college, there seems to be a common sentiment of expectation for the unknown, but comfort in the knowledge and experience of the past. This upcoming year will be markedly different for me in some ways but pleasantly similar in other ways.

Firstly, I will be a resident assistant on the same floor on which I was a resident during freshman year. For the sake of myself and, most importantly, the residents for whom I will be responsible, this added obligation and privilege will consume physical and mental energy. I have little idea what to expect for this position, but I anticipate the joys, sorrows, successes and difficulties which accompany it.

By virtue of the position, I will be required to think of persons, many persons, other than myself. This requirement is, of course, incumbent upon all of us because of our humanity, but is particularly necessary for me with these men. The situation makes me think of my aunt, a nurses’ aide, remarking about a colleague: "she’s a solid aide. And that’s about the best thing you can say about the people who do that job." My hope is that the residents think of me at the end of the academic year as a "solid RA", despite my vices and weaknesses.

The year will also be the same in many ways, as well. I will still be going to classes, eating lunch with friends and trying to live the way a college student should. While seemingly innocuous, all of these tasks require interior and exterior motivation, as is the case with any other human action which has any meaning to it. Otherwise, we would not get out of bed in the morning. We have to face the dragon of the unknown every day, without any guarantee that this encounter will be successful. Thankfully, the dragon of resistance from ourselves, others and nature make us stronger and more capable of winning the battle for the next day. Outside of this outlook, the banality of life seems to overcome too many in our own generation in the forms of drug and alcohol abuse, suicide ideation or even a consistent apathy.

These perversions of life itself remind me of my junior philosophy teacher in high school often repeating the meaningful phrase: "Bad metaphysics leads to bad ethics!" Without a proper understanding of who we are, who God is and what our relationship with Him is, we will not treat each other or ourselves with the respect and dignity which we deserve by nature of our humanity.

One of the best things about college, especially in an isolated, rural environment, is the ability and encouragement to talk about things like this. I did not realize at the beginning of my freshman year that I should carve out time to talk about these topics with very knowledgeable people. As an incoming freshman, I was so concerned with initiating social relationships and filling up all the hours of the day with activity that I did not give myself the chance to step back and consider the bigger picture about who a college student should really be and why I am at this college with these people at this particular time. Now that I have had some time during the summer to step back from many of these social obligations and activities, I was reminded of the necessity for time in solitude and silence. In addition, I hope to take greater advantage of the office hours of professors. Every professor that I have had so far has been particularly generous and encouraging with their office hours and it is a resource which I think I neglected in my first year. Also, I would like to spend more time at the grotto. That place of peace is, in my eyes, one of the best attributes of our campus.

After all of these practical resolutions, I still know almost nothing about what will be different about this upcoming school year. Recently, whenever I tell myself that I have ‘almost no idea what to expect’ about a certain experience or encounter, the result is almost always positive. Granted, these reminders are usually said in moments of anticipation and not those of hesitation, but my sentiments for the upcoming year are certainly ones of anticipation. But, what has become more frequent in my routine of mental preparation for these sorts of things is the expectation of suffering and a vague idea of how to deal with it. This seems to be understood even on a natural and secular level. For example, clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson said, "it is not an accident that the axiomatic Western individual is someone who was unfairly nailed to a cross and tortured." While the limitation of Christ to that of axiomatic individual of the West might be myopic in theological scope, the idea of the universality of suffering is still very present for secular society. We should be encouraged to recognize that suffering is an unavoidable part of life and is worth considering even while we are not experiencing it. This might seem unnaturally cynical for a college student, let alone a sophomore college student, let along a sophomore college student writing about the joys and hopes of the future. I beg the forgiveness of the reader, but I want to think like this at this point of my life so that I might be a blind optimist at the end of my life.

To that end, a final hope for this upcoming year is a greater devotion to the ancient prayer of memento mori, remember your death. Our generation would do well to have a greater eschatological urgency with regard to how we direct our thoughts, words and deeds. Memento mori is not a morbid foreboding of our ultimate demise, but rather a hopeful anticipation of the joys that lie ahead.

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