Nickerson FYS2 Integration 4 Dr. David Lassen Moreau First Year Experience 29 April 2022 Translating my Mission into a Life Well-Lived At 364 words, verbose and unwieldy characterize my first attempt to comprehensively articulate who I am, my purpose, and a life well-lived (Personal Mission Statement - Moreau FYE Week Thirteen). Like a cash fortune without a bank, my personal mission statement could not be employed in the daily course of my life. I required a concise statement that could be of practical use in reminding me of what I stand for. What follows is my personal mission statement, distilled to the point where it could become a tacky script tattoo (if the need arose). Personal Mission Statement I strive to sail away from the safe harbor, making a positive impact on the world. To serve and recognize God in the good and in the bad, I use my gifts, opportunities, and privileges to serve, care for, and elevate others. I grow from the relationships I find in a diverse group of others, freely giving and receiving the gifts of love, joy, and friendship. In striving for genuine relationships, I am vulnerable with myself, embracing change and the possibility of failure. Reflecting on my first two semesters of college, I am amazed at all that I have experienced. Life before college, while not mundane, was relatively prescribed. I maintained the same friendships, went to the same places, and could always take solace in the structure of love and support that my family provided. Life in college, while exciting and new, is taxing. Balancing new friendships, living on my own, difficult classes, physical exercise, mental health, parties and other social commitments, and my relationship with my girlfriend—all the while trying to maintain close ties to my family and old friends—is sometimes more than I can handle. I have often looked at those around me and only seen great success: published research as a freshman, well-liked by everyone, ahead of their schoolwork, passionate and involved in important issues. In an environment surrounded by incredible people, it’s easy for me to become overwhelmed by feelings of inferiority. I think to myself: I should be doing more. Everyone else is. When I feel like this, it is necessary to take a step back. Travel novelist Pico Iyer believed that “[i]t’s only by stepping farther back and standing still that we can begin to see what that canvas (which is our life) really means, and to take in the larger picture” (“Why we need to slow down our lives” by Pico Iyer - Moreau FYE Week One). As I say in my mission statement, vulnerability and the acceptance of my shortcomings—the recognition of my inherent imperfection—are vital to living my life as my best self, but this type of introspection can only occur when I take a step back. That is the challenge; it is often when I most need perspective that I fail to recognize the necessity of stepping back. However, unchecked introspection poses its own dangers. Organizational psychologist Dr. Tasha Eurich found that when trying to understand our feeling, “Why questions can draw us to our limitations; what questions help us see our potential” (“The Right Way to be Introspective (Yes, There’s a Wrong Way)” by Tasha Eurich - Moreau FYE Week Six). This reframing of the self-posed question has transformed and will continue to transform how I practice internal self-awareness and has helped assuage my feelings of inferiority and doubt. https://ideas.ted.com/why-we-need-a-secular-sabbath/ https://ideas.ted.com/why-we-need-a-secular-sabbath/ https://ideas.ted.com/the-right-way-to-be-introspective-yes-theres-a-wrong-way/ My journey thus far in college has also shown continuity to my previous experiences. I have always tried to be welcoming and embrace my relationships with a full heart. On a retreat during my junior year of high school, my best friend, Tommy, sat outside with me, tears in both of our eyes. He was gay, and I was the first person he had come out to. He asked how this would impact our friendship. He was afraid he wouldn't be loved, just as Jacob Walsh felt in his essay. A priest assured Jacob that God and others love him and said, “You don’t believe you can be loved. You think if people knew the real you, they wouldn’t love you either” (“Growing up Gay and Catholic” by Jacob Walsh - Moreau FYE Week Ten). This is why unconditional love is so important. Nothing did change in my relationship with Tommy; if anything, our relationship has deepened as a result of this experience. In the first semester of this year, one of the closest friends I had made in my dorm also revealed he was gay. Freely giving and receiving the gifts of love, joy, and friendship made my friends feel comfortable enough to be themselves around me and to feel accepted as their true selves. These experiences have affirmed my commitment to love and friendship. Looking forward to my next three years at Notre Dame, I envision many opportunities to live and develop my mission statement. I talk of using my gifts to serve and elevate a diverse group of others in my statement, but I currently do not take much action. I volunteer at the local NICU and help my friends, but outside of that, I am focused on myself and my studies. In Fr. Ted Hesburgh's 1987 Laetare Medal Address, he says, “There are a lot of battles yet to be won for justice. There are a lot of mountains yet to be climbed to overcome human ignorance and human prejudice and at times human stupidity” (“Hesburgh” produced by Jerry Barca and Christine O’Malley - Moreau FYE Week Two). At Notre Dame, there are tremendous opportunities to become involved in the “battles” and “mountains” Fr. Hesburgh refers to. Next year, I will https://grottonetwork.com/keep-the-faith/community/reflective-narrative-about-being-gay-and-catholic/?utm_source=moreau&utm_medium=class&utm_campaign=spring_2022 https://grottonetwork.com/keep-the-faith/community/reflective-narrative-about-being-gay-and-catholic/?utm_source=moreau&utm_medium=class&utm_campaign=spring_2022 https://notredame.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=10159379-7eca-4549-8581-ab9500c9ecd9 participate in the annual Martin Luther King Jr. day candlelight prayer service and attend the January Social Concerns Fair. These are small actions, yet they answer Dean Marcus Cole’s call for everyone to use their privilege and position to affect change. In specific regard to racial separation and violence, he urges each of us to “get to know people who differ from us” and “make a conscious decision and effort to expand our circles” (“Dean G. Marcus Cole: I am George Floyd. Except, I can breathe. And I can do something” by Marcus Cole - Moreau FYE Week Twelve). While activism (both on a policy and personal scale) is crucial to my mission, I must be conscious to not try “to be the voice of the voiceless” because, as Fr. Gustavo Gutiérre says, the goal of accompaniment is for “those who have no voice today” to “have voice and [] be heard” (“Teaching Accompaniment: A Learning Journey Together” by Professor Steve Reifenberg - Moreau FYE Week Nine). The goal is not my personal advancement of sense of fulfillment Many battles require politics; however, we live in a polarized and contentious society where civil discourse is an afterthought. As a result, echo chambers and bubbles challenge my mission of effecting positive change. Professor Paul Blaschko warns that “[e]cho chambers…lock us into certain world views” and occur when “groups give up tolerating diversity of opinion” (“How to Avoid an Echo Chamber” by Dr. Paul Blaschko - Moreau FYE Week Eleven). Breaking through echo chambers—and staying vigilant to not fall into any myself—is essential for real progress to occur. Preventing these chambers begins with listening to opposing views with an open mind and engaging in constructive dialogue, something I will emphasize in my conduct. My mission is to sail away from the safe harbor and make a positive impact. This necessitates leaving my comfort zone and welcoming interactions with people I may not be https://law.nd.edu/news-events/news/dean-g-marcus-cole-i-am-george-floyd-except-i-can-breathe-and-i-can-do-something/ https://law.nd.edu/news-events/news/dean-g-marcus-cole-i-am-george-floyd-except-i-can-breathe-and-i-can-do-something/ https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hZbSdVImfn2hZDqMrdL96dZCNOtHuf6C-lg3sH-Rs30/edit?usp=sharing https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/41088/modules/items/146603 entirely comfortable around. Early in the year, I received an email about providing tutoring at the Juvenile Justice Center. If I were to participate in the future, I would have to bridge my personal “gulf of mental judgment and replac[e] it with kinship” (Tattoos on the Heart by Fr. Greg Boyle, S.J. - Moreau FYE Week Seven). This initiative would challenge me to live my stated mission and contribute to the life well-lived that I describe in my eulogy by “shar[ing] [my] happiness with others” and “ma[king] a positive impact” (Integration Three - Moreau FYE Week Eight). I need to recognize opportunities to strengthen my mission when they present themselves and not pass them up as I did with the Juvenile Justice Center. One way to do this is to force myself to consider the limited time I have on this Earth. Sister Theresa Aletheia Noble recognizes the inevitability of her death and believes remembering our death “keeps us awake, focused, and ready for whatever might happen — both the excruciatingly difficult and the breathtakingly beautiful” (“Meet the nun who wants you to remember that you will die” by Ruth Graham - Moreau Week Three). Another way is to do what the Meruelo Family Center for Career Development recommended and “just get out and experience life!” in order to get to know myself. (“Navigating Your Career Journey” by the Meruelo Family Center for Career Development - Moreau FYE Week Four). During a conversation with my roommate in early February, I realized that “I don’t [] have to save the world or cure cancer to have a life well-lived at the end of the day” (Discernment Conversation Activity - Moreau FYE Week Five). To live a life well-lived, I have to live my mission statement: making a positive impact on the world, serving, growing, loving, and happily accepting myself and others. My pursuit of a life well-lived will not be without challenge (and growth), but my newly minted (but always lived) mission statement will animate my life and guide me during the next three years at Notre Dame and beyond. https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/41088/files/524008?module_item_id=168045 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/14/us/memento-mori-nun.html https://undergradcareers.nd.edu/navigating-your-career-journey---moreau/