Integration #3 Dr. Chan Moreau First Year Experience 4 March 2022 The Struggle Karina Eme Martinez Savidge. A daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, and friend. She hated being late. She loved taking an excessive amount of pictures. She only drank coffee when she was tired. She was one of the only people who would call her family every other day while in college. It is small facts like these ones that define a person- what they do when no one is looking, when there is no one there to judge, when it is just you. Karina was one of the most loyal, loving, selfless, and hardest working people that I have ever met. Throughout her successful career in the Army and as a civilian, she told me that the greatest misconception about work is that “..if I take time off, I somehow believe, I’ll be that much more hurried the rest of the time.” (Why We Need to Slow Down Our Lives, Pico Iyer, Moreau FYE Week One). “(Karina) used her degrees and education to make an impact in the world and in people’s lives.” (Notre Dame Domer Dozen, Notre Dame, Moreau FYE Week Two). However, even more than her degrees, she used her heart. An education can only get you so far. Compassion, love, understanding, and patience take you farther in life and are harder to learn than any chemical reaction, mathematical equation, or memorized poem. They take more practice, more dedication. Modern society’s values are skewed and twisted- bitterness, grudges, and deception. However, Karina showed me that one of the greatest lies that the world sells is insincerity. So much pain and hurt is caused by fakeness. Karina would be honest with you no matter what and did not care what others thought of her beliefs, values, ideas, or desires. She knew what she wanted- to https://ideas.ted.com/why-we-need-a-secular-sabbath/ https://domerdozen.nd.edu/ become the person that God created her to be and to love so much it hurts. She was one of the most dedicated persons to her loved ones. No matter what they had done, she defended them to anybody and everybody. It is through these small acts - defending your loved ones and championing sincerity- that Karina made an impact in the world and on me. When I asked her what she thinks the world should value, “ she answered “honesty, loyalty, selflessness, etc”. I realized then that these values in individual people are much more important than worldly values.” (Conversation Activity with my mom, Moreau Week Five). Karina taught me that nothing, absolutely nothing is “... a one-step process.” (Navigating Your Career Journey, Meruelo Center for Career Development, Moreau FYE Week Four). Friendships, learning, growth, failure, and love are all things that don’t happen overnight. Instead, these are things that must happen over and over again in order to come to fruition. She told me that one of her greatest (and silliest) fears when she was younger was asking for help. Karina hated admitting that she didn’t know what to do, what she got wrong, or what to do next. She tied together her self-value with her knowledge. Through the help of her friends, her family, her failures, and the death of her pride, Karina finally realized that receiving help is a good thing, even when you don’t think you need it. It was then- when she finally turned away from her pride and turned outward to others for help- that “....(she) began thanking God and being more positive about the things that (she) had already, (she) was able to do things more gladly.” (5 Minutes, Grotto Network, Moreau FYE Week 6). Raised as a Catholic throughout her childhood and into college, Karina loved her faith and shared it with her family and friends. She attended mass every Sunday and participated in the sacraments. However, when it was time for her to attend the University of Notre Dame, this would be the first time that she would have to attend mass by herself- without her family there to https://undergradcareers.nd.edu/navigating-your-career-journey---moreau/ https://undergradcareers.nd.edu/navigating-your-career-journey---moreau/ https://grottonetwork.com/make-an-impact/transform/why-does-god-allow-suffering/?utm_source=moreau&utm_medium=class&utm_campaign=spring_2022 keep her accountable. She attended mass weekly at the basilica, but had a hard time deepening her faith. She was much busier at university than she was in high school, at home with her family. One of the biggest reasons why I admire, love, and aspire to be like Karina is because she never gives up- this applies to this anecdote. She told me the story about how her faith developed while she was at Notre Dame. At first, it was “easy” and familiar. She would go to mass and confession, the works. However, as the semester built up, she had a harder time praying, going to confession, and reflecting. Making time out of her day to dedicate to God was never this hard before, she said. “In high school, the workload was manageable and I was surrounded by my family who were constant reminders and helpers to dedicate time in prayer and reflection. However, these factors were gone. Because of this, I had a hard time with my faith the first semester in college.” She continued to tell me that God must have known that she was having a hard time, and her best friend was a new Catholic and helped her to rededicate herself to the Church. They were able to talk about everything- faith, homework, failures, even death. Her friend, Grace, was able to help her realize her own death, “...as a means of appreciating the present and focusing on the future.” (Meet the nun who wants you to remember that you will die, Ruth Grahm, Moreau FYE Week Three). has taught me many things- how to ask for help, how to be unafraid to make genuine connections with others, and how to deepen my faith in Christ. Because of her, I know that friendships, love, faith, and hope are not easy at all. They are the hardest things in life, but they are the ones that are worth all the work. Thank you Karina for struggling, for failing, for fearing, for crying, but most importantly, for never giving up. I know I speak for all present that you are missed, loved, and always remembered. “Our sphere has widened, and we find ourselves, quite unexpectedly, in a new, expansive location, in a place of endless acceptance and https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/14/us/memento-mori-nun.html infinite love. We’ve wandered into God’s own ‘jurisdiction’.” (Tattoos on the Heart, Fr. Greg Boyle, S.J., Moreau FYE Week 7). https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/40288/files/524007/download?download_frd=1