Thank Heavens I Have Grad School

About two weeks ago, I wrapped up my time as a student at BYU. I just feel great about college, now that I'm looking back at it. Maybe if I did it again I would've studied a little bit freshman year, or I would've done a minor besides business (basically punting on making a decision for what to study), and I probably would've watched more Jersey Shore. A well-rounded education is essential.

I'm actually kidding there. Business is a pretty useful thing to know a bit about.

But really, things worked out pretty well. I really liked my major especially. I think when most people consider a Spanish major, they think we must be learning the nuances of "ser" and "estar" for four years, coupled with two years of classes about Don Quixote. But at the same level of mercy as the sparing of the city of Nineveh, I didn't have to study more than one semester of grammar. It was actually just class after class where I would read books and talk about ideas.

I don't know if I was a person who loved that kind of thing when I began college, but I think it's great now. The graduation ceremony kind've epitomized the whole experience. One speaker gave a great talk about the need to forget so that we can generalize and think, drawing from a short story by Borges, Funes el memorioso (Funes the Memorious.. Who's ever heard that word?). The next speaker used Plato's allegory of The Cave, which I had talked about a few different times in college. I wonder how many times its been used in graduation speeches, because it's just so fitting to rationalize reading really cool books for four years and getting a diploma for it. Graduates, you have seen the light.

Now it's the next thing. It's funny how that has come around for everyone. I'm just excited for a bright future unrolling legislation that will make wearing shape-ups illegal for the entire population of the United States. That way our once-distinguished retired professional athletes no longer have to embarrass themselves wearing them in commercials.

Another generational Vietnam/Korea/Europe

Osama is dead. A writer for the Washington Post said that it was like we had been released, and he had been holding us in prison. After having killed so many thousands of people, the fact that he breathed defied justice. People took the streets after news of his death in DC and NY to celebrate, but I don't think they were celebrating one more corpse of an American killer. I really think they were celebrating the end of an era, an end of imprisonment to the injustices of that man. Not as if Osama's death will stop hatred and terrorism in the world, but it does show that it can be overcome.

So now for a brief revisiting to what has defined my generation.

I was sitting in early morning seminary when the towers were destroyed. I just remember being so confused as to what happened. The details kept trickling out during the day, and the estimates came out with the amount of people who died. It was staggering. I don't think I really comprehended it for quite a while. The nation was awash in flags, yellow ribbons, and brave words. When we went to Afghanistan it felt right. Everyone felt that it was right. After a few months and a second country invaded, we were all trying to explain our rationale to ourselves and taking a step back to consider the Americans who were dying in a distant country of sand and sun.

And we didn't catch Osama. I felt like even though we were killing militants in Iraq and Afghanistan, and it surely had a calming effect on the world, we were just pawing and kicking at smoke.

That is by no means a fact based timeline. It's how I perceived this last decade, through adolescent, teenage, and (adult?) eyes. And I think it illustrates that release. The "War on Terror" isn't over, and likely won't be. But Osama's death was a step out of the cave he put us in.