With fall comes the start of the academic year. At universities and colleges around the country, high schoolers travel from home, sometimes near, sometimes far. The distance in miles will not equal the distance in growth. As I walk among the freshmen starting at my university, I wonder what will befall them. I look at the faces, freshly scrubbed, eager, overwhelmed with all that's new. And it's all new. How the look will change by midterm! Will parents recognize their offspring during the winter holidays? Perhaps the change will not be as physically noticeable, but life's events will leave its scars on the soul.
The start of college means the start of adult life. Each will make friends and enemies. Some will learn something; others will not learn. Some will get their dream job; others will struggle to make ends meet in a low-paying, low-skill job. A few will have trauma swallow them whole. When they are spit out, will the bile make them stronger or will it leave them forever marred? As I scan the incoming hoards, who amongst them will find the love of their lives? Who will meet an early death? Who will find success? Who will develop a black, hardened corpse of a heart that will lead to misery for themselves and others?
All look so hopeful and eager, but are they running towards the precipice, flinging themselves into the void, not knowing if there will be a net to catch them. How I envy that naiveté!
