At the end of a long road one will look back and ponder the experiences that time has moved along the path. There is no doubt I am leaving college a different person and I doubt there are few (if any) ideas that I once held that have remained the same. At times I miss the simple lessons, the easy test, the mindless homework assignments. I wasn't sure what I expected in college, but I am leaving with a mind full, and at times, a world shattered.

    I'm not sure education meant much to me when I began this path. Perhaps it meant a little more when I had to pay for the knowledge I chose to keep or dismiss. I have come to realize that college was no more than life lessons, ways to cope, how to deal with people, and a way to test my boundaries mentally and emotionally. It took me awhile to realize that those test given prove nothing, those papers written in structured form prove little else than the thesis statement on the paper topic demanded by teachers.
  As I look back I can say I will take this with me: Understanding who I am is understanding what I have learned, what I have failed at, what I have questioned, and what I believe. I have learned to distrust words but adore their depth. I have learned to follow directions and to break the rules. I have learned that teachers are just people, with their own minds and beliefs that, in some way, have infiltrated the class room and what I have been taught. At times this has been a tremendous gift, other times a great tragedy. I have learned that a brilliant person is not one who can memorize facts or maintain a high GPA. I have learned grades do not reflect who I am and my abilities. Grades are only maintained because people are afraid to just "be" and just "learn." I have realized that grades and competition may be the system used to induce hard work and competition, but I also know that there are better ways because the system fails on a moment to moment basis.
    I have failed at so many things, but I have learned from them just the same. I have come to question everything and, in that, have found the key to learning and passion. I have questioned the "system" "the man" "intentions"  both my own and those outside myself, "America" "society" and "individuality". I have questioned life, and I will always find the need to understand this world I live in. Now I know better. I know that I can ask and there will be endless answers. It is my integrety to choose too believe.

    I have realized the most important people of this world are not those walking around with the most money or graduating from the best colleges. They are people who work and work hard, people who are dismissed by so called "educated" individuals.The most important people of this world are the ones with silent voices but minds full of importance. I have yet to see an expensive education teach the bigot about tolerance and equality. An overpaid education can not educate the ignorant. I have learned that there is no truth, no concrete answers to any possible questions. There is no fact-only an idea of fiction. In all the classes I've taken and all the hours I've worked I cannot tell you one solid fact or idea that would not drift away at the slightest breeze. I now understand that my ideas, though thought wrong by a teacher, college, or society, that they are still my ideas. . .and they are still beautiful. They still mean something important because I believe in them. I have learned to believe in passion and understanding, abstract and undefined.

    I will walk away seeing the elements of the world I have never encountered before and enjoy their beauty. I will bask in the humor of the phrase "historical fact." I will smirk at the person who demands the "truth" and I will open my mind to the possibilities. I will look forward to the new ideas that spark my passions and mind. I will embrace the unknown and I will become the unknown.
    Are you ready to let go of everything you've thought or believed? Can you stand on the other side of your convictions and be the convicted? I will never be taught truth...but I can discover my own truth by choosing to believe that everything demands a question and nothing deserves an answer.

To contact me, send electronic mail to ajg2@lehigh.edu.