Sometimes, we have to stop and take the time to appreciate what we have. When I was younger, I wanted a job badly. I figured that with some extra income I could afford more CDs, a new skateboard, some new clothes and maybe even a car, but my mom refused to let me find a job. Toward the end of my senior year of high school, she finally relented. However, prior to that point, all of my extra income was provided by the occasional odd job and the generosity of my parents.
My mom's rationale was simple you're only young once, and once you start working, you'll never stop. My mom never really had much of a childhood. She was raised by an alcoholic father, suffered some of the horrors that occur in the foster care system, married an abusive man at the age of 15 and found herself with two children by the age of 18. My mom wanted to provide me with something she hadn't had herself an adolescence.
I can't thank my mom enough for that. I look back on that time of my life as one of the best experiences I've had. To be honest, things weren't always rosy; I went through some of the hardest periods of my life back then. But on the whole, I was fortunate to have a pretty awesome adolescence.
A few years later when I joined the Marines, I found myself in beautiful Okinawa, Japan, though I wasn't too keen on being stationed there. I had hoped to be stationed in my wonderful home state of Arizona, close to my friends and family. However, the will of a master sergeant who didn't care too much for me outweighed my personal desires, and I found myself landing in a foreign place at the beginning of a hot, rainy summer.
At first, I hated being in Okinawa. It was light years away from my old friends and family, I hardly knew anyone there, and getting away was impossible. It was all Marine Corps, all the time. As time passed, however, I began to appreciate being in an exotic, exciting place. Every weekend was an adventure as my friends and I would pile into my van and explore the island. I made friendships that have lasted until this day, and we make it a point to visit each other multiple times a year.
However, I didn't fully appreciate the time I spent in Japan until I returned to the U.S. I had failed to learn the lesson my mother had tried to teach me years ago take time to appreciate where you are. Periods of your life cannot be relived. You'll have one adolescence, one first chance living abroad, one undergraduate college experience.
For some, college can be a traumatic and painful experience, and I do not mean to belittle these negative experiences. Sexual assault and issues of sexism, racism and other forms of discrimination can mar what should be an otherwise positive experience. I have had to deal with some of these issues during my time as a Marine, when I went through the roughest period of my life, and I know they have the capacity to justifiably tarnish an experience as a whole.
However, some students seem to let the day-to-day minutia have too strong an effect on them. Issues that may feel like a big deal at the moment, such as the dining plan, are inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. I'm not suggesting that students shouldn't have the right to protest Dartmouth's shortcomings, but that these issues shouldn't dominate your outlook of an undergraduate experience or a school as a whole. You will find everyday stupidity that irks you wherever you go.
I can't say every aspect of my first year at Dartmouth has been spectacular. I was borderline misanthropic by the end of Winter term, and I've had my share of disagreements with the College. Being a first generation college student, however, I have tried to enjoy the opportunity I have been given here.
Who knows? Maybe I'm a bit naive, and by the time I've spent 12 terms here I'll be ready to leave. But I hope we all take some time to appreciate what we have here. I hope we'll all take the time to meet a friend for lunch, to lounge on the Green, to fall behind on some school work and to stop and appreciate what we have.
