Sunday, October 24, 2010

Rule #25. Someone's gotta do it. Why not me?

I said before that I'd try and write an entry every time I had another realization from the "Principles for a Young Life" list that Kinsella gave me three years ago. This one came about rather quickly, and I realized it after literally saying "Someone's gotta do it. Why not me?" Think about that for a second. We've all been brought up on principles of stepping out, on being leaders, and on making an example that others should follow. Maybe I've sort of taken this for granted after all these years, having grown up in a town where it's so common. At a school as big as uconn you're bound to see a lot of great leaders, but there's even more masses of people walking with no particular destination in mine. This is how we make things happen. This is how we make a name for ourselves. I hear thoughts left and right about "tradition" and "knowing your place" within whatever groups, clubs, and the school in general, and I get it. I understand where that comes from, but you know what? Fuck that. We have a surprisingly finite of time here, and I see no reason why I should waste a single second waiting for things to fall into place, or for things to work themselves out. Maybe I want to be the one that work things out, or the one that gets things going. Could I fuck up? In all probability, yes. Does it matter? Not in the least bit. I love going out and having a good time and doing the weekend thing, but every Sunday night I get that itch in the back of my mine that makes me want something more concrete, and I'm not going to wait around to find it.
I've been trying to keep this entry relatively abstract, based on a number of lessons I've both observed first hand and learned about through friends, because I really think this applies to everyone out there. If you want something then go out and get it! We see that phrase pasted on motivation ceiling tiles in the infirmary or on feel-good websites that we find on stumbleupon, but I say lets fucking do it! You don't have to know what you're doing or be confident that everything will work out in order to go out and try to get something done. We pay too high a price (and I mean this literally, as in money) for our time here to sit and be escorted. Go out and get whatever it may be that you want. It could be a job, a leadership position, a girl, fame, anything. It doesn't matter. Go get it.