Thursday, September 27, 2012

carpe the heck out of diem.

I have arrived in Oxford!

My multitude of orientations (international student, graduate student, college member, program induction, matriculation...) have been keeping me from truly exploring the town [which is...amazing, by the way. I can already tell]. One day soon, I'll {hopefully} be able to venture around with my trusty ol' Canon PowerShot and send you some purrrty pitchers.

In the meantime, here's a quotation/passage/excerpt. It's from a recent high school commencement address [props to KK (sp?) for bringing it to my attention], and I was reminded of it today when I found a pencil on the ground.

fave blurry pic of the day of my fave find of the day

The speech received a bit of criticism, but I liked it. Something about the chopped-up, straight-to-the-point guidance strikes a chord (or a cord?) with me every time I read it.

"Resist the easy comforts of complacency, the specious glitter of materialism, the narcotic paralysis of self-satisfaction. 
Be worthy of your advantages. 
And read. Read all the time. Read as a matter of principle, as a matter of self-respect. Read as a nourishing staple of life.
Develop and protect a moral sensibility 
and demonstrate the character to apply it. 
Dream big. Work hard. Think for yourself. 
Love everything you do, 
everyone you love, 
with all your might. 
And do so, please, with a sense of urgency, for every tick of the clock subtracts from fewer and fewer. . . 

The first President Roosevelt, the old rough rider, advocated the strenuous life. Mr. Thoreau wanted to drive life into a corner, to live deep and suck out all the marrow. The poet Mary Oliver tells us to row, row into the swirl and roil. Locally, someone... I forget who... from time to time encourages young scholars to carpe the heck out of diem. 

The point is the same: get busy, have at it. 
Don’t wait for inspiration or passion to find you."   

-David Mccullough Jr.


Onward!
-M

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