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“I have read my books by many lights, hoarding their beauty, their wit or wisdom against the dark days when I would have no book, nor a place to read. I have known the hunger of the belly kind many times over, but I have known a worse hunger: the need to know and to learn.” – Louis L’Amour, Education of a Wandering Man
I underlined that quote once. Then I highlighted it. I did not know reading Education of a Wandering Man and the subsequent discussion at McConnell Freshman Orientation would have such an impact on me. However, like most things and most people, we do not recognize the effect decisions, discussions, and people can have until time has passed.
Looking back on my first year at the University and the McConnell Center, I cannot help but think it flew by too quickly. The conversations I had will remain deep within me for the rest of my life, both the good and the bad. The Program has changed me and is helping me to better myself.
A question was posed before the ten freshmen during our orientation: “What do you want to get from the Program?” I remember writing, “I want to discover what it truly means to be human.” Throughout the semester, I have met Aurelius, Plato, and Aristotle; C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and T.S. Eliot; I made life-long friendships along the way.
If one were to siphon everything I read this year, I would feel ignorant. I am still ignorant (and will always be ignorant), but I have realized that I will never know enough. I have grown as an individual and as a human being. I am on a path littered with stones. As I pass each stone, I pick it up, and find something new. On this path, there is no return; I cannot go back to the state of not wondering, of not being hungry. L’Amour’s hunger is a hunger I share.
- Sean Southard, Class of 2015
Looking back on my first year at the University and the McConnell Center, I cannot help but think it flew by too quickly. The conversations I had will remain deep within me for the rest of my life, both the good and the bad. The Program has changed me and is helping me to better myself.
A question was posed before the ten freshmen during our orientation: “What do you want to get from the Program?” I remember writing, “I want to discover what it truly means to be human.” Throughout the semester, I have met Aurelius, Plato, and Aristotle; C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and T.S. Eliot; I made life-long friendships along the way.
If one were to siphon everything I read this year, I would feel ignorant. I am still ignorant (and will always be ignorant), but I have realized that I will never know enough. I have grown as an individual and as a human being. I am on a path littered with stones. As I pass each stone, I pick it up, and find something new. On this path, there is no return; I cannot go back to the state of not wondering, of not being hungry. L’Amour’s hunger is a hunger I share.
- Sean Southard, Class of 2015