Take the time to look around you. The warm spring air is gently caressing your face, the flowers are in blossom, and the world is alive in splashes of green and yellow.
These simple, little things are so easy to forget when we are here, living and breathing the university life that is so encompassing at times.
The stress that comes with the end of the year -- finals week, job applications and everything else -- can consume us. We buzz from class to class, paper to paper, weekend to weekend, and can lose touch with ourselves and our loved ones.
We have had some sobering doses of reality this year that have left many of us feeling numb. We have felt the devastating loss of some of our fellow classmates. We have watched our soldiers and Iraqis die in an ambiguous war. We have read the headlines and seen the destructive images of the Haitian uprising and the Madrid bombings. We have heard our President try to mandate who is deserving of a loving union and who is not. We have discovered that our university is so bent on saving face in light of recent crises, that they are willing to use fear as a means of compliance.
We have experienced many things, yet we are still here, and we are still very much alive.
I found out today that my fourth Grade teacher, Mrs. Judy Farrell, had passed away Sunday night after a long battle with cancer. She was an amazing woman who taught for many years in Indianapolis and then left teaching to volunteer for as long as she was physically able. I received this sad news when I was rushing around, trying to fathom how I was going to get everything done this evening, and planning for tomorrow's busy day.
The news stopped me dead in my tracks. The memories I have of her are that of a caring, energetic woman who went out of her way to make me feel welcome in a new school system when I transferred so many years ago. Over the past few years, I still ran into her on occasion and was greeted with a hug and encouragement on my own teaching path. Her death has caused me to stop and re-evaluate what is going on around me.
Why the hell am I rushing around doing things that do not fulfill my own, personal needs? Why am I stressing over things that are not as important as maintaining my friendships and doing things to make myself a better person? How in the world can I complain and begrudge others when, in spite of all of life's stressors, I am still alive? How can I go to bed at night and be anything but grateful for my family, friends and time on this Earth?
I am amazed that after all the deaths on campus, it is only now, after receiving the news of the death of my fourth grade teacher, that I have come to my senses. I hope that the rest of you were wiser than I and had this revelation weeks ago. If not, please, whatever you are going through or whatever problems you're having in life, go outside, feel the grass under your feet, run madly around campus and revel in being alive.
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