Microsoft Word - Document6 Kevin McKenna Mr. Whittington Moreau First Year 14 October 2021 Growing Under the Dome I believe that the friendships that I make are the root of my happiness. Whether that be with my classmates, my family, or with God. I realized just before writing this essay that I was on the phone with my dad, a Notre Dame alumnus who graduated in 1995. I could not stop raving to him about how many great friends I have made in Siegfried Hall. I feel like the strong foundation I have within my dorm helps me love everything I do at Notre Dame. As Brene Brown stated in her TED talk, “connection is why we are here. It gives purpose and meaning to our lives” (Brown). There is no question that in the past two months here I have formed some amazing and fulfilling friendships. I have great friends who have strong values and are great to spend time with. Additionally, they have a strong moral compass which betters the entire community. Brown claims, “the people who have a strong sense of love and belonging, believe they are worthy of love and belonging” (Brown). I definitely see this playing out in my life as I came from loving parents. I believe many brothers in Siegfried Hall benefit from this too after talking to them about their family lives. Additionally, I think life-giving relationships come from possessing similar virtues as your peers. The most meaningful friendships are the ones that are formed out of virtue, not utility or similar interests. Both of those aspects can be a shallower part of relationships, but virtue is like the ocean floor. It is the most important thing that grounds a stable relationship. However, this aspect of relationships is often overlooked in our world today. As David Brooks claims in his TED Talk, “Most of us, including me, would say the eulogy virtues are the more important of the virtues. But, at least in my case are they the ones I think about the most? And the answer is no” (Brooks). The University of Notre Dame gives students a unique opportunity to reflect on the eulogy virtues while still receiving an elite education in terms of our resume virtues. I think that is something that makes me so fond of this school is the duality between cultivating the mind and heart. It plays a role in my everyday life through my classmates whether it be learning or in social settings. I think that every community should strive to be like Notre Dame by setting the whole person flourish. Furthermore, one of the key elements of human flourishing comes from faith. Seeking God is one of the most important reasons I chose to come to Notre Dame. After going from public school to a Jesuit high school, I see the importance of faith being paired with education. Spirituality helps guide my actions and makes me understand the bigger picture in life. At the end of the day, our achievements and titles will fade away and be forgotten, but the way we choose to live our lives will not be. As David Fagerberg states, “When the lighting changes, what I can see changes. When my spiritual lighting changes, what I can see spiritually also changes. Spirituality concerns the real world, and how we see it, how we do it, how we approach it” (Fagerberg). In my day-to-day life, I try to utilize my Catholic faith as a moral compass to do good in my community. Right now, that is simply being a good member of this community. However, in community people do not always agree. We have many different perspectives in our Moreau section and our campus community as a whole. Even when we do not see eye to eye with others, we can still respect them. The golden rule “Respect—Partners treat each other like they want to be treated and accept each other’s opinions, friends, and interests. They listen to each other” (Red Flag Campaign). On a small scale, I feel like this has been a key driver to our Moreau class being successful. Whether people have similar or conflicting views, everyone is respectful to one another. As I have stated in class, I have an extremely deep-rooted relationship with the University of Notre Dame. Both of my parents graduated from here and were even married in the Basilica. Additionally, I was baptized in the Log Chapel by Father Joyce C.S.C. Having had many Holy Sacraments that are influential to my family performed on these grounds, it makes the founding story of Notre Dame even more special to me. “Everything was frozen, and yet it all appeared so beautiful. The lake, particularly, with its mantle of snow, resplendent in its whiteness, was to us a symbol of the stainless purity of Our August Lady, whose name it bears; and also, of the purity of soul which should characterize the new inhabitants of these beautiful shores” (Sorin). I am beyond grateful to be in a place that is so special to me during four of the biggest developmental years of my life. Every day I wake up here in the morning, I view as a blessing. I think that this campus has always been a crucial part of my journey and I am so excited to be here. As my poem from week 6 states, “However, while I reside under the dome for the next chapter of my life, I will never forget where I came from. The many schools, many friends, and many gifts that ultimately led me to the place I now call home, Notre Dame.” I have had so much time to grow as a person before I came here. I hope to develop my unique perspective even further by being surrounded by my amazing classmates. There is so much I can learn from them and vice versa. One of the ways that can be achieved is through being open to unique perspectives. “One reason people on both the right and the left are skeptical of implicit bias might be pretty simple: it isn’t nice to think we aren’t very nice. It would be comforting to conclude, when we don’t consciously entertain impure intentions, that all of our intentions are pure” (Payne, Niemi, Doris). Ultimately, the greatest thing about my journey is the people I will meet. As I mentioned in the very beginning, community is the root of happiness; I am blessed to be part of a great one here at Notre Dame. I am honestly not sure where the journey will take me, but I am only a college freshman once, so I want to enjoy this time for everything that it is worth. Works Cited https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4Qm9cGRub0&feature=emb_title (The Power of Vulnerability by Brene Brown) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlLWTeApqIM (Should You Live for your Resume or Your Eulogy by David Brooks) https://grottonetwork.com/keep-the-faith/belief/faith-brings-light-to-dark-world/?utm_source=fal l_2021&utm_medium=class&utm_id=moreau (Faith Brings Light to a Dark World by David Fagerberg) Unhealthy vs Healthy Relationships (The Red Flag Campaign) Sorin Letter to Moreau by Father Edward Sorin C.S.C. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-think-about-implicit-bias/ (How to Think About Implicit Bias by Keith Payne, Laura Niemi, John M. Doris)