All These Things That I’ve Done

As the semester winds to an end, and the year with it, I am somehow already reminiscing on this blog and the people who have read it since the start of the previous semester. It started with a squirrel, and so too shall it end. I am a hundred times the man I was coming into Penn State from Hawaii, just as you are all far different from the people who came here in August (or even July for my international friends!). 

The sky above the dining hall I have frequented daily for the last almost 9 months was spectacular on this particularly atrocious Monday. It had been just two classes that morning but I already had my work cut out for me, with many an assignment left to complete. Even as I am writing this, I am finishing yet another of my final submissions of the year, shocking as it is to write down on paper. The sky was vibrant and breathtaking with all of the shades of blue I had ever drawn a sky with as a kid, the clouds whiter and fluffier than my artistic skills could ever truly render. But that’s what life has seemed to be thus far, a circle backtracking through my memory from here, as far as I’ve come, back to as early as I can remember. People say that it is not the years in your life that count, but the life in your years. And I must admit, the life in my years has far outweighed the years in my nearly two decades of consciousness. 

Again, cliché as it may be with all of my repetitiveness, this squirrel somehow encapsulates my feelings on the world and my place in it. He’s just munching away on a discarded (or stolen) bagel, minding his own business without a care in the world. His focus is on this moment, eating the delectable meal that must be considered a delicacy for squirrels, seeing as they can’t bake. The right now is all that crosses his mind, although the taste of the bagel is no doubt a tad bit distracting. I feel like I tend to get into my own head, as many of you undoubtedly do as well, thinking about and planning for the future still years ahead of us. The right classes, the right electives, the best extracurriculars, and stresses that will not cross our minds for months at the earliest. But here we are, human as ever, worrying about the things nowhere close to our control.

With this blog coming to a conclusion, I’d like to voice my own plans for the future. I want to be able to take life as carefree as my friend Dakota, napping so heavily that he didn’t notice when the couch was lifted and carried outside. Even waking up outside the house didn’t phase him, only wondering where his food had been moved to (it was in his backpack still inside). I hope that you all can find your own inner peace, whether that is taking life a little more seriously in the face of the coming responsibilities you’ll face, or a little more like Dak, laidback (literally) and nonchalant.

With that, good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight!