Learning requires sacrifice. To do well in college, one must sacrifice certain things to healthy degrees (sleep, social life, and time) to do well either academically or extracurricularly.
Why is it that society has such antipathy toward sacrifice? Perhaps it is that sacrifice connotes a sense of surrender. And surrender, in many Americans’ eyes, is equivalent to weakness.
I want to perhaps reference a central tenet of Christianity here: sacrifice should be a part of our daily lives. Christians believe that we should take up our own Cross and follow in the example of Jesus. We believe that Jesus’ sacrifice was perfect and that his suffering on the Cross puts ours in a less dignified light.
Surrender is real and surrender is powerful. Surrender requires sacrifice, and once you’ve surrendered your own ego and sense of self-importance, you will taste what happiness ought to be.
I struggle with this; I have ego problems. I believe my thoughts matter and/or are important. I think I actually contribute a significant deal to society. But the most realistic attitude to have is that I don’t really contribute tangible benefits to society in the way others think is most efficient.
I wish I could contribute well. And this is the thought process that I’ve observed so many around me have. But do not be disheartened: I have seen goodness in all. I have met janitors and grocery clerks and waiters/waitresses that are able to work with a sense of dignity. And yeah, perhaps people put up an act in front of me in order to not be fired. But even if outward kindness is part of a pretense, that does not exclude the feelings of receiving kindness from being felt as a result.
My ethos: be kind. Be kind, be kind, and be kind; be a king and queen and prince and princess. Do not be ashamed. Read Twilight. Read Game of Thrones. Read Harry Potter and do not be embarrassed. Read with courage and read with a perceptive mind; do not listen to others when they bash the movie adaptations of your favorite book series. For if a book makes you happy, proclaim it to the world. Proclaim it to all you meet.
The Twilight-bashers are wrong; the fantasy genre-bashers are wrong. They don’t know what Twilight is and have not read the entire series(to be honest, I’ve never read a page of the series, hah). One cannot bash Subarus, honestly, without riding in and/or driving one for oneself. Test-drive the books you wish to read.
It will be hard. It will take sacrifice. But your mind will love you for it.
