For almost an entire year now, the temple replica on the top of the UT Tower has loomed overhead, constantly reminding you to "Know Thyself," and thus becoming the source of many guilty pangs - at least for me. The truth of the matter is that I do not know myself very well right now, at least not by our culture's standards: my career, my major, and even my college of choice are all vague decisions at best. This does not mean that I have been twiddling my thumbs this first year at college; I recognize that I have grown and learned a lot when it comes to my character, but is it enough?

In order to answer that question, I would like to go back to the shores of Waller Creek, where Nature herself reminds us that good things come…with lots and lots of patience. I would be remiss if I did not heed the wisdom of God's creation when it tells us to slow down and simply be. So when my thoughts become frantic, obsessively repeating the phrase "This is your life - are you who you want to be?" like the popular Switchfoot song, I now stop myself and calmly reflect that I do not have to have- cannot, in fact - have my life all planned out yet. I know that no matter what organizations I get involved in or what job I take, if I am developing a "cultivated mind…guided and controlled by virtue," then I can be successful in all of them. I can be enough.

Figure 1 - I want to blossom into a beautiful person, inside and out

So how do I develop this virtue that will guide and control my actions? I believe the phrase 'everything you do, do in love' appropriately sums it up. To do something in love first of all means calming the mind in order to live in the present because you cannot hope to do something beneficial for another person until you stop thinking about your own problems long enough to think about theirs. Out of this awareness compassion naturally arises, but Dass points out in his book that too often we do not allow that compassionate feeling to be expressed because of our own fears and insecurities. If we are to really develop virtues that will remain in the core of our being, we need to consciously respond to our natural compassionate inclinations, as well as practice quieting our mind enough to feel these inclinations in the first place. A conviction for what we are trying to accomplish will help us with these goals. One reason why I admire my role-model, Kenneth Peters, so much is because of his strong convictions; his convictions have made him a leader within the church where he worked and outside of it. If I am steadfast in my desire for developing virtuous behaviors, then I will grow and change.

Never-ending growth and change is really a characteristic of the 'cultivated mind,' a mind willing to learn and discover new things at any age. We explored this characteristic through discovery learning in this class, which challenges us to think for ourselves. For "it's all too common you see, Complacency, / the common place to be…It's…your heart's fire quit / that is the thing to hate, / the address many own in the Desert of the Safe." By opening my mind to continuous development, and with a virtuous core to guide it, I will naturally become a leader in every area of my life.

We have tossed around words like 'leader' and 'hero' a lot this semester, and there has been much disagreement about the definitions of both, but I hope everyone can agree with me when I say that at least one quality all leaders have in common is that they take the initiative to do something, whether that's starting a company or protesting a war through passive aggression. Nothing new would ever get started if people didn't take that first step of faith to change the status quo. As Gandhi would instruct, "you must be the change you wish to see in the world." To become an instigator of positive change, though, it will be necessary to have both the 'cultivated mind' and the 'guiding virtue' behind it, for "gifted leadership occurs where heart and head - feeling and thought - meet," virtue being the feeling and the cultivated mind the thought. Real leadership comes through serving others - serving your country, serving your company, serving your family, serving your organization - and it is only when we have both the compassion to see where our catalyst for change is needed and the wisdom gained from a curious and seeking mind that we can effectively serve those around us.

Figure 3 -Serving your country is just one example of how to be a leader

So I know that my future will be filled with service; I just don't know the specifics of where and how. I have felt some leanings towards the field of education and a calling to serve students who are going through their own identity search, although I will need a lot more experience myself to be ready to do so effectively whether it's becoming an expert in one field such as theology or concentrating on general psychology and education courses. I am not sure exactly what subject, age-group, or specific job this will entitle, but sharing truth in a fervent and exciting way, whether it's the truths of the Gospel or the truths of geometry, is a high and noble calling that I would be glad to focus on for the rest of my life. Whatever my actual career, though, the more important aspect of my future is the character I develop on the way, which will benefit me in any job or role I might fill.

Figure 4 -Teaching, like any other field, is really about serving

First Draft Word Count (no quotes): 1,140
DB Word Count: 3,010

Footnotes

1 - Switchfoot, "This Is Your Life." The Beautiful Letdown: Columbia Records, 2003.
2 - Lamar, Maribeau B. (1798-1859)
Figure 1 - http://www.limeyinbermuda.com/photos/bermuda_in_colour/lily.html
3 - Alice Walker, The Color Purple. (Orlando: Harcourt Books, 2003), p. 132.
4 - Quoted by Kenneth Peters to Amanda Jones, c. 2004
5 - Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)
6 - Daniel Goleman, "Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence," in Composition and Reading in World Literature, ed. by Jerome Bump (Austin: Jenn's, 2006), 62-69, p. 62.
7 - Isaiah 53:2-3 in in Composition and Reading in World Literature, ed. by Jerome Bump (Austin: Jenn's, 2007), 60-69, p. 67.
Figure 2 - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1784704/replies?c=1
Figure 3 - http://studentconnection.byu.edu/index.cfm?thissection=5&thispage=1