As the year comes to an end, a lot of us will find time among the haze of finals, graduation, barbeques and saying goodbye to friends to reflect on a year passed. Whether its friends we’ve made or lost, parties that made history or entire weekends we can’t remember, a year in the life of a college student is something of a paradigm for those who experience it. For the departing seniors especially, this time of year demands retrospection on now altered lives and the transition to a larger, and perhaps less memorable, community.
But as we bring the 2004-2005 school year to a close, let us look back, for a moment, on ourselves. Every year, every day, every second of your life impacts others, often times in ways that we are not even aware of. The legacy that one leaves behind at the end of the day is based entirely upon their actions and how they treat other people. Think about what you have done today. Did you hold the door open for someone, or were you too concerned about meeting a friend to even bother to glance behind you to see if anyone was coming? When someone drops their plate in the dining hall, do you step over them as you head to your own dinner, or stop and offer a hand? It is the littlest things, the things often overlooked in the grand scheme of the day, which often mean the most to many. What kind of legacy are you leaving on this campus? Are you so involved with your own life that others are simply people in the way of yours? Or are you giving of your time and of yourself, to just make that small gesture to show someone you care.
Many think that one must hold a position of power to be able to effect change – this could not be more untrue. You do not have to be the head of a club or the president of the student body to make a difference to someone on this campus. Every single person at this school is given the opportunity every single day to make someone else’s day change for the better.
Are you embracing these opportunities or are you ignoring them? Do you take the time to notice if those around you need help, or sometimes just even a smile and a “hello” to someone who is upset. How many lives do you touch? How many people have a better day because of a small, seemingly insignificant gesture that you made to them, like holding a door open or stopping to help them conquer the unsolvable mystery of our mailboxes?
Little things do make a difference. Things that take seemingly no time at all-a smile, a thank you, a-may not register with resounding glory when we do look back on our college days, but they do make our time here as a whole more meaningful, more genuine. By the end of summer we should all be jumping up and down to come back, even though we have the rest of our lives to live. As you finish this last stretch, be mindful of others around you, not only of yourself. Make the legacy that you leave on this campus one to look up to.