I think the thing that scared me most about my own future was the possibility that my generation might not fulfill its promise. Junior year was the first time when I began looking beyond myself, and it was really very unnerving. With the almost one-third of Americans never graduating from high school, the thin veil of peace over very few, selective places, and the threat of nuclear war still hanging over our heads, I didn’t feel safe. It was a very depressing, sobering time for me. I felt powerless within the whims of the world, minute in contrast with the magnitude of any global situation. But junior year passed, and when senior year began, it occurred to me that I could attempt to make some sort of difference in the world. It’ll probably be small and seemingly insignificant, but if I don’t attempt to try and change anything, I’ll be looking back on my life angry and bitter about my missed opportunities. To be honest, this is my biggest fear now, that at the end of my life, I won’t have anything to be happy about, no accomplishments to be read along with my name. In this way James Baldwin’s quote speaks to me: “Not everything faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced”. I could continue to recede away from the problems I feel are plaguing my generation, but are too fearful to fix. Or I could at least try. And that is what motivates me to pursue an excellent liberal arts education.
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