Listen HereBy: Cory Berlekamp
Email: berlkamp3@findlay.edu
Twitter: @Cberlekamp3
I would like to think that every year summer break is equally enjoyable no matter what
is going on outside of my mental vacation from higher education.
Now we are back and ready to pile on all of the things that we have been ignoring or
pushing towards the back of our minds; things like my future, career, etc. But I have noticed
that I am finding it harder each year to find the motivation to work on change in my own life
while being overshadowed by what seems to be the world burning in the news.
Most of us were raised to believe that if we loved doing something while making
enough money to support ourselves than it was important enough to hunker down and get to
work. But lately the news that I hear or read about is so disheartening that I tend to ask myself
what’s the point?
Why wouldn’t I just sell my earthly possessions to go live in a shack on a beach renting
umbrellas to tourists or move to the mountains and become a bartender at a local watering
hole for all the miners and steel workers. All that would be fine and dandy as long as a gigantic
hurricane doesn’t destroy my umbrella business or the inevitable obsolescence of manpower in
the mines doesn’t run my watering hole dry.
Then there is this overarching fear that was just revived after El Paso and Dayton that at
any moment that I could become a victim of a mass shooting. I had already dealt with this fear
last year when the restaurant that I work at in Toledo was a possible target for a terror attack
before the FBI arrested two people back in December.
One of the accused pleaded guilty on Aug. 9. I have to be clear about this, I forgot this
happened up until the news article came out that the accused plead guilty.
Even after California a couple of weeks ago, or El Paso, and even closer with Dayton
which one would have thought would trigger a reaction in me. None of these were a reminder
that it almost happened to me.
This is why I do hunker back down. What other choice do I have? This is our world and if
we want change, we have to work at it. There is no running away from the world anymore even
if it was ever a real possibility before.
On the home age of the University of Findlay it states “Meaningful Lives. Productive
Careers”. I plan on honoring that motto by pushing through whatever feelings of existential
crisis or sadness (which seems to be constantly updated along with my BBC news app) and do
my university and my department proud.
