'You’ve got to keep moving forward'
—Rocky Balboa
Yesterday, I did two important things: repaid a friend money I owed him and watched President Obama’s acceptance of the Democratic nomination for President. The two to me stuck out in my mind: one being desperately-important remuneration and the other a call to move forward (100,000 new math and science teachers, anyone?).
Now that I'm back at Penn, I notice two types of people (there are more, but for the sake of simplicity): freshmen who are undecided as to what to study and upperclassmen just beginning OCR. To ya'll: proceed with a steady heart. Question your motivations behind the things you proclaim to enjoy. Ask others for guidance as to which path to take. Because when it comes to the most important decisions in your life, only your life experience and the life experiences of others should dictate where you should go.
Now that I'm back at Penn, I notice two types of people (there are more, but for the sake of simplicity): freshmen who are undecided as to what to study and upperclassmen just beginning OCR. To ya'll: proceed with a steady heart. Question your motivations behind the things you proclaim to enjoy. Ask others for guidance as to which path to take. Because when it comes to the most important decisions in your life, only your life experience and the life experiences of others should dictate where you should go.
Thesis: Pay your debts.
By debts, I don’t just mean financial. I mean ontological, societal, and individual. If you have learned something that will or would improve the lives of others, share it. Knowledge is not to be hoarded. If society has bestowed upon you an innumerable number of invisible advantages (race, class, intelligence, etc), then it is your duty and obligation to give back. If you owe a friend more than money, if they have saved your life: give them more than is needed.
Paul wrote: Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. (Romans 13:7-8).
This is what I mean: we repay each other not for the sake of financial obligation, but to say: I respect you and your time. I honor you and I love you, not because you have honored and loved me, but because you have blessed me by being my friend.
Repay, repay, and repay. Forget maintaining a consistent cashflow for the sake of honoring yourself and just BE. I don’t mean, ‘don’t stress about money if you don’t have to’; I mean, have a greater and more dignified financial vision than just to make yourself rich. Because thousands and thousands of people have already worked hard and become rich—and what is wealth without loving relationships? So develop deep and loving relationships with the people around you. Because money and materiel and material things do not last, but love does.
Love is everlasting. And love will outlive you for centuries on end. Repay others’ love and love will repay you.
Repay, repay, and repay. Forget maintaining a consistent cashflow for the sake of honoring yourself and just BE. I don’t mean, ‘don’t stress about money if you don’t have to’; I mean, have a greater and more dignified financial vision than just to make yourself rich. Because thousands and thousands of people have already worked hard and become rich—and what is wealth without loving relationships? So develop deep and loving relationships with the people around you. Because money and materiel and material things do not last, but love does.
Love is everlasting. And love will outlive you for centuries on end. Repay others’ love and love will repay you.
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