Dartmouth is a bizarre place to spend your formative years. Four years in Hanover ensure access to a world of affluence and privilege for the rest of your life. In the Dartmouth bubble, we incessantly talk about how beer is free and North Face jackets are trendy. Less frequently we acknowledge that everyone here has health insurance, is highly educated and for the most part can afford a Longchamp bag, which is certainly not representative of the average American.
It is blatantly obvious that the Dartmouth norm is not the norm elsewhere. No one posts motivational flyers on the back of every bathroom stall door in the post-Dartmouth world. No one asks if you are experiencing the symptoms of S.A.D. and need a happy lamp. The Mirror and the Opinion page are often riddled with criticisms of our campus culture how at Dartmouth the heart becomes a vestigial organ. Despite our downfalls, at least we have a forum to call attention to such problems. After Dartmouth, holding ourselves accountable will be more difficult.
I've heard several classmates talk about how the lack of shelter scares them. But after graduating, the Dartmouth bubble never bursts. My fear is that I'll get too comfortable living this sheltered life and buy my daughter a Longchamp bag. It has always been my own parents who have tried to give me perspective. When I was six, my dad drove me through the middle of bad neighborhood on the fourth of July while firecrackers exploded all around us. I was terrified of the orbs of light, but my dad showed me just how good I had it.
The sheltered existence that I've led was not the reality of either of my parents. My dad was born in Morocco and worked odd jobs that paid 10 cents a day to help support his family of nine. He and his brothers helped my grandfather build their house brick-by-brick from the ground up. My father believed education was important to secure success in the future so he studied foreign languages to position himself to move up. My mother's background sounds less exotic (Milwaukee isn't exactly Tangiers), but she also overcame hardship. She was born to parents who drank too much and who thought a woman's only goal in life should to be find a husband. She put herself through school and carved her own path without their support.
My life has been far from perfect, and I've had serious differences with my parents, but there is no doubt that my life has been easier because of their hard work. In a couple of months I will move to New York and work a job surrounded by other Ivy League graduates in an intellectually-stimulating environment. I will have a premium health care plan and I'm not paying for a dime of it. I studied hard to get into Dartmouth and worked hard while here, but I still don't think that means I deserve to make double the average income in America. This lifestyle is only available to me fresh out of school because I attended Dartmouth. Our lives after graduation won't be a scene from Pleasantville and they aren't right now, troubles find us all but because we will remain within the bubble, I fear we will not seek out challenges beyond climbing the corporate ladder in hopes of making more money and enjoying more luxury.
Once you get into Dartmouth, finding a challenge can be a challenge. The odds are stacked in our favor. When the majority of people leave Hanover they will have health insurance and be highly educated the two most important factors in ensuring a comfortable life, in my opinion. We will be part of a network that is rooting for us. With those odds, it's hard to be an underdog. Our options are either to coast through life, choosing security over a chance of failure, or to hunt for the impossible.
Happiness for me has always been a by-product of overcoming a struggle. I've been happiest at Dartmouth after doing something that was difficult, but something I nonetheless thought was worth doing for example, spending 50 hours a week editing The D and not (completely) losing my mind. Happiness is a lot like the exploding firecrackers it throws a shower of sparks, has a violent roar, lights up your whole world. Its prize is in the fight.
