Moreau Capstone Integration Lelonis 1 Theo Helm Moreau Spring 29 April 2020 Building Blocks In life, my mission is to build. I aspire to build my knowledge, never taking for granted each opportunity to learn and grow my mind. Equally, I yearn to build a successful career and reputation. I want to be proud of who I become through my hard work and dedication to my craft. I also have big dreams of building a family. I want to spend my life surrounded by the people who I love most. When I find myself on my deathbed, I will not wish for anything other than more time to spend with those who I love. All in all my mission is to build, creating a happy, healthy, successful life for not only myself but those who I surround myself with. Throughout this integration I strive to answer the question of, “how do I pursue a life well-lived?” within the realm of my mission statement. I will incorporate aspects from all weeks of moreau in order to describe how I will build a life well lived through knowledge, occupation, and family endeavors. First, I will elaborate on building a life well lived through the acquisition of knowledge. Throughout the second semester moreau course, I have become increasingly enlightened about what it means to be a knowledgeable person. In doing so, I have developed a passion for increasing my intellect and growing internally. Within week eleven, I was struck by something that resonated heavily with me. Within a podcast, it was stated that, “it is our job to stay informed” (“Passion Isn't Enough” by Hidden Brain Media - Moreau FYE Week Eleven). As a straight, white, upper-middle class male, it would be easy for me to not stay informed. It would https://hiddenbrain.org/podcast/passion-isnt-enough/ Lelonis 2 be easy to turn a blind eye to the toils and troubles that plague our world. I aspire to never allow myself to get comfortable, expanding my knowledge to understand the problems of the world and which I hope will grant myself the opportunity to fight against them. Additionally, another instrumental component of knowledge within a life well lived is the ability to spread it. What is the point of growing the mind if it isn't used to assist the minds of others. With the knowledge that I accrue, I plan on passing it along to those who seek it. However, before I can do that, I must be able to obtain knowledge in the first place. In other words, “good teachers are usually good learners” (“Teaching Accompaniment: A Learning Journey Together” by Steve Reifenberg - Moreau FYE Week Nine). I must first learn before I can teach. Moreover, in week two we learned about open mindedness and its importance. Within the Hesburgh film, it was stated that, “you can’t censor ideas if they disagree with your own” ("Hesburgh" produced by Jerry Barca and Christine O'Malley - Moreau FYE Week Two). This quote further accentuates how vital it is to learn before you teach. If you are not willing to open your mind and allow unfamiliar ideas and concepts in, growth will not happen and the development of knowledge will be stagnant. I plan to live life with an open mind, which will allow me to acquire the knowledge I so covet. Finally, similar to being open minded, the last component of a knowledgeable, well-lived life for me comes through risk-taking. I truly believe that chances make champions. Every chance is an opportunity for growth, regardless of the outcome. Within week four we learned that, “every experience shapes you in some way, whether you realize it at the time or not!” (“Navigating Your Career Journey” by the Murelo Family Center - Moreau FYE Week Four). Experiences are fundamental to the mechanism of growth, and I plan to take advantage of any and all opportunities that allow me to build my knowledge in pursuit of a life well-lived. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hZbSdVImfn2hZDqMrdL96dZCNOtHuf6C-lg3sH-Rs30/edit https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/40380/modules/items/143444 https://undergradcareers.nd.edu/navigating-your-career-journey---moreau/ https://undergradcareers.nd.edu/navigating-your-career-journey---moreau/ Lelonis 3 The next building block of an ideal life for me deals with my career. Since I was a young child, I had always had dreams of being successful, working for myself, giving opportunities to others. Those dreams remain, but I now must build my way to them. Before entering moreau, I was uncertain about where I was heading, and what my future was going to look like. I had a vague path outlined in my head, but I didn’t know who I wanted to become, or what field of work I wanted to go into. However, one week we learned about the concept of “memento mori”, which translates to “remember that you die”. Nun Ruth Graham asserted that we are to, “intentionally think about your own death every day, as a means of appreciating the present and focusing on the future” (“Meet the Nun Who Wants You to Remember You Will Die” by Ruth Graham - Moreau FYE Week Three). Upon receiving this message, I was able to think deeper about me and my legacy. One day I will die, so I need to work to become the man that I want to be known as. This led me to channel my inner talents, being numerical.y oriented and business savvy, pushing me toward the field of finance. In this field I plan to establish myself, building a reputation for my relentless work ethic. Additionally, a large part of my career will be centered around building success. However, success does not come easy, and as we learned in a short film during week six, “suffering is part of our lives, it is always there, it is about how to respond to suffering.” (“5 Minutes” by Grotto - Moreau FYE Week Six). Suffering, pain, fatigue, adversity, it's all inevitable. I aspire to build myself through adversity, using it as a platform to grow and learn. It takes failure to be able to succeed, and I now know that if I want to enjoy a life well-lived, I must be willing to fight for it. Finally, the last component of my occupation within my ideal life is what follows my success. One day I will find success, simply because I will not stop until I do so. However, once I had built myself from the ground up and “made it” as some would say, I will pride myself on never changing who I am. In week ten we discussed the golden https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/14/us/memento-mori-nun.html https://grottonetwork.com/make-an-impact/transform/why-does-god-allow-suffering/?utm_source=moreau&utm_medium=class&utm_campaign=spring_2022 Lelonis 4 rule, more specifically, “Christ’s calling to treat others as we desire to be treated” (“The Spirit of Inclusion at Notre Dame” - Moreau FYE Week Ten). One of my dad’s good friends is a wildly successful businessman. Though my dad is a blue collar laborer who makes a mere fraction of what his friend does, his friend treats him as an equal, never less. I look up to people like this, and I plan to take on those shoes during my career. I will strive to remain humble, treating everyone with the kindness and respect that all human beings deserve. Finally, the last and most important aspect of a life well-lived comes from building relationships and a family. This will forever trump the importance of my knowledge and job, as I have come to learn that friends and family are the only thing that truly matters in life. Items come and go, things and places change, and more money is printed every day. However, family is forever invaluable. Sadly, in today's world, “people's paths are riddled with suffering, as everything is centered around money, and things, instead of people” (“Why the only future worth building includes everyone” by Pope Francis - Moreau FYE Week Seven). In a true life well-lived I will steer away from materialism, choosing to pursue people and relationships instead of money and cars. One day, we will all pass, nobody will remember the cars. But people will remember who you are on the inside and how you treated others. Personally, I plan on giving everything I can to my future family. The reason that I want to build my knowledge and career is so I can use my wisdom to guide my children, and use my occupation to provide a happy, comfortable life for my family. When I asked my father what it is that I aspire to do with life he stated, “I have never met someone in life with more focus on bettering the lives of those around them” (Brian Lelonis per Week Five Interview - Moreau FYE Week Five). Personally, I find this to be true, as there is no feeling more rewarding than that of giving. During the final week of classes, I picked up on what I believe to be the most applicable quote to me and my https://dulac.nd.edu/university-mission-and-vision/spirit-of-inclusion/ https://dulac.nd.edu/university-mission-and-vision/spirit-of-inclusion/ https://www.ted.com/talks/his_holiness_pope_francis_why_the_only_future_worth_building_includes_everyone/transcript https://www.ted.com/talks/his_holiness_pope_francis_why_the_only_future_worth_building_includes_everyone/transcript https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CMPxFUGLOLnNvrd3dPa8o83SwcN5WB-BdIfmpaxahQQ/edit Lelonis 5 story. The Constitutions of the Congregation of Holy Cross stated, “the farther we go in giving the more we stand to receive” (“Constitutions of the Congregation of Holy Cross” by the Holy Cross Congregation - Moreau FYE Week Twelve). I plan to build a family, giving them everything and more so that I receive more. For me, my ‘more’ is fulfillment. In life, I yearn for nothing more than to see the people who I love smile. I am going to build a life that creates happiness for those around me. At the end of the day, all we have is each other. The technology, cars, houses, clothes, it's all a mere distraction from the true prize of life, love. In the first week class, there was a quote that stated, “I’d be richer in what I prize most: days and hours' ' (“Why we need to slow down our lives” by Pico Iyers - Moreau FYE Week One). To me, days and hours are the only thing I prize, everything else holds no true value. A life well-lived can be decompartmentalized into many components, all of which are trivial in comparison to family. Time with the ones you love is true currency, and it is never increasing, only decreasing. A life well-lived takes every day and appreciates it for the opportunities to spend time with loved ones, as that's what we have in our pockets when everything else shakes out. https://holycrosscongregation.org/holy-cross-resources/constitutions/2-mission/ https://ideas.ted.com/why-we-need-a-secular-sabbath/ https://ideas.ted.com/why-we-need-a-secular-sabbath/