Happiness is...

In my time here I’ve studied journalism and philosophy, though I’ve never claimed to be journalist nor philosopher. I’ve lived, learned and moved forward.\nIt’s taken me four years, but I’ve finally learned something: Through all the time spent making friends, joining groups, chasing degrees and trying to make money, it’s easy to get confused about what we’re really seeking here at IU. But what I’ve learned is that it’s happiness we’re after. College is a continual path of re-defining happiness.\nWhen we were kids, it was playing kickball, making s’mores and staying up late. When we were teenagers, it was playing hooky, making out and still staying up late. In college, it’s playing beer pong, making love and sleeping in late. \nThe moral here is not to get too caught up in the emotionals of graduation. Yes, friends have been great and this school is amazing, but that’s not why we’re scared. We’re scared because these are the things that make us happy, and without them, what’s left to bring us joy?\nThe answer is everything. New people, new places, new drinking games; new ways to improve ourselves and the world around us. Sadness only empowers the symbols, not what they represent.\nIt should bring a smile to your face, not a tear to, to know you found happiness and comfort in a place you once considered intimidating. What you’re leaving behind isn’t real in the intrinsic sense of the word. Your memories, and the happiness you’ve felt – that’s real. The thing about life is there’s plenty more where that came from.\nIt’s that hope which inspires me to share one, true philosophical discovery I’ve made, and it didn’t even strike me until earlier this week while I was writing my final philosophy paper – about an hour before it was due. \nMy parting words are simple: As we move forward from here, we must be conscious of that direction. Forward.\nWe are armed better than most with the ability to change this world, not as one or two or ten, but as a collective whole. And with that ability we must strive to move toward a utopia, not away from a dystopia. Live lives of hope. Not lives of fear. \nYes, occasionally we will fail. And occasionally we will succeed. But it’s the direction we are headed when these peaks and valleys occur that matters most. For I’d rather stumble on the path to greatness, than pick myself up from the road to mediocrity.