Is there life in college?

The following is an excerpt from the Saint Anselm College mission statement: "Saint Anselm challenges its students to engage in the fullest experience of a liberal arts education, to free themselves from the strictures of ignorance, illiteracy and indecision, and to dedicate themselves to an active and enthusiastic pursuit of truth. It is through an appreciation of the several kinds of truth -- scientific, technical, poetic, philosophical, and theological -- that students learn to challenge both personal and social problems."

Well, pardon me, but where has that sentiment gone? It seems that our campus has become distressingly unaware of anything beyond Ronnie and Sammie of the Jersey Shore or the recent Red Sox loss. There are huge things happening out there, people. Things that happen to be much bigger than you and I and that are much more important than who happens to be getting a fake tan this week on MTV. This world is full of terrible tragedy just yearning to be absolved and at the same time there is unimaginable beauty just waiting to be experienced. So why have we settled for the unfulfilling, empty endeavor of moving like cattle through our days? How is it possible that we manage to find time to watch movie marathons and play Black Ops, but simply cannot find one hour a week to give to someone in need? To be fair, however, it is not just our campus, it has become an epidemic in our generation. Our elders look to us as an extremely apathetic group of people, and they are not necessarily wrong. We are all guilty of looking only within our small bubble of inconsequential issues and finding mountains that are merely mole hills.

So, now that I've basically ripped all of us and our world views to shreds, what exactly do we do about our apathy? Do we really want to attempt to make this world better, not just for us, but for those less fortunate? I fervently hope that the answer to that last statement is yes. Anna Quindlen once gave a commencement address at Villanova University, during which she said: "All of you want to do well. But if you do not do good, too, then doing well will never be enough." Where would one even start to attempt to "do good"? Well, for starters, there is the Meelia Center. There are absolutely amazing things happening in that corner of Cushing, many of which go unnoticed by the rest of the campus. The brick stairways on either side of the main lounge are filled with posters and ads asking for people to help out and take part in service projects in the greater Manchester area. Each one of them has a different form of involvement geared toward different types of interests. There is something for everyone, all you have to do is care enough to ask.

But then again, that is the real issue here, isn't it? Caring.

We walk across this campus and think about our potential careers and lives that we hope to be successful in. It is with that idea, of being successful, that we must also spread goodness throughout this world. In the words of Anna Quindlen, we all ought to "get a life." She told those graduates to get one, and now I am telling you. Find a way of life that is not merely self-serving. Love others for who they are in the same way we all ought to love ourselves. Do not allow apathy to be an option in your life, live and breathe in the beauty this world can offer and do your best of rid the world of the tragedies that exist. You are one in a million and you are the one who is able to decide what your life will look like. Allow yourself to live a life of a person who cares and cares deeply about those around them. Use your time here at Saint A's to invest yourself in the possibilities of a better world, and let that mission statement be true, not only of your education, but of your life as well.