College graduation is one time when it's completely acceptable to self-congratulate, one of the few times in which society actually encourages people to give themselves a pat on the back. Forget all the haters who say that a bachelor's degree is our generation's high school degree — completing four years at Tufts and getting that diploma is a big deal. Congratulations to the Class of 2009.
But, as all the seniors surely know, graduating from college doesn't lead directly to… well, anything. Lots of seniors who are graduating face uncertain futures and a severe lack of concrete plans. Even those who found jobs at banks or consulting firms or won prestigious fellowships or gained entry to their grad school of choice don't usually have really solid plans for what they want to do. As for those who think they have it all figured out? Just wait — it's been my experience that even the best-laid plans can change. And embrace uncertainty.
If most Tufts seniors are like me, and in this regard at least I think they are, they have been making very careful plans for their whole lives. Gaining admission to Tufts, let alone graduating, is hard. And in order to have reached this point, some organizational skills and a bit of foresight were certainly needed. Planning becomes part of life, a key element of the routine; at a school like Tufts especially, with so much going on, minute details of every day are scheduled and planned well in advance. And careful planning has worked out well so far, for most of us at least. The fact that you, college seniors, are graduating from Tufts means you're doing something well.
But laying out the future so meticulously is dangerous. Each day that you follow a strict routine to the letter is one more day that you're missing out on other opportunities. What people often forget in the desperate search for a job is that work isn't typically fun. Astonishingly few people enjoy their occupations. Your confidence that you will be different and that you would never subject yourself to a job you hate is more than likely dishonest. If you aren't carving out your own path and letting life come to you, if you're living day-to-day working at a boring job or taking worthless classes and leading a meaningless life, you're dying a little bit every day. You're essentially going through your adult life unconscious. It's surprisingly easy to forget what you love about life and just do what you think you're supposed to do. You get up, go to work, go home, and you get up the next day and do the exact same thing. It becomes your default setting, and it's comfortable but lifeless.
A liberal arts education, according to David Foster Wallace, is about the freedom and ability to choose what to think about and the ability to avoid the unconscious, lonely, default life above. I hope that after studying at this great university for four years, you have learned at least one thing: awareness. Awareness of what is real and beautiful and important in life. It's too easy to forget about the really important elements of life when you're busy making plans and trying to satisfy everybody but yourself. All of us have something that makes us come alive, and college is about finding that more than anything else.
So, Class of 2009, I have but one piece of advice for you: Don't get stuck in the routine of always having a routine, don't plan to have long and detailed plans and just try living for a while. Not having a plan is beautiful because the possibilities seem, and in truth still are, endless. Don't forget to think, to keep learning and to continue the work you started at Tufts — the work of paying attention.
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Will Ehrenfeld is a rising senior majoring in peace and justice studies. He can be reached at Will.Ehrenfeld@tufts.edu.
