This summer, I was asked what was most important problem plaguing our nation today. I came up with some bogus answer that I can’t even remember — probably “Trump supporters.”
But my dad came up with an answer that might just have hit the proverbial nail on the head. He said that our nation’s largest problem is one of pride (which, to be honest, isn’t too far off from Trump and his supporters). Pride in one’s self, to be specific. We care only about ourselves, and think that what we need to know about ourselves and who we should be is already within us.
Shortly after this conversation, I had the opportunity to be on the road for about 100 hours, driving around this pretty neat nation. It gave me some time to think when I should have been paying attention to driving. Today’s culture has shrouded itself in something of a paradox, telling itself that we as individuals can find everything that we need to know if only we would look inside ourselves and be honest with what we see. Many people — including myself, from time to time — have tried that and found little there.
As a nation, we are delving further into ourselves in order to find our values, only to realize that our values are debased and selfish. We have left behind the values and lessons that have been passed down to us through history, only to come back with depression, discord, and vape pens. What we need to remember is that we can choose who we want to be. Who we are is not some pre-ordained idea encrypted within our genetic code.
This is the American dream, right? To be able to enter the world as adults and choose who we want to be, and then make ourselves that person. In a letter to Robert Hook, Isaac Newton said, “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
Rather than standing on their shoulders, Newton became one of them. He looked to his historical role models and decided that he would become a man like them. His studies and dedication to his work ensured that he too has been placed in the pantheon of science. This idea of becoming your own giant in the place of the giants who have come before you is something that cannot happen if we only look inside ourselves for our sense of place in the world, we will not find it there.
Here at Hillsdale, finding historical giants is not a hard task. We are required to study and learn about them in our core history classes, among others. By educating ourselves with the words of these monumental individuals, we are shown virtues from those who have lived them. These readings are a veritable blueprint for how you should cultivate yourself. Our peers help us to whittle away our own rough edges as we grow alongside one another. Our education truly starts to change us when we incorporate it into our decisions and personalities.
College is an unfortunately fleeting time; I for one wish I could stay here longer than I will be allowed. But fortunately it is an incredible opportunity to decide who we want to be, to become that type of person, and to pursue growing into giants ourselves. And even if we only succeed in climbing onto the shoulders of the giants who came before us, at least we’ll have a better view.
This article was originally printed in the Oct. 1, 2015 edition of the Hillsdale Collegian. This version differs from the print article due to modifications that occurred post-publication.
