I’ve made the decision to write about this November 13^th 2016. I don’t like writing about personal beliefs or philosophies but I feel like communication of these ideas will show up inevitably on a forum (like Odyssey) that encourages us to speak what's on our mind. Disclaimer: I’m not writing this for an applause or for popularity at my school; I’m only writing this because I want to and I believe that talking about essential values as to how it pertains to the human race is super appropriate for the time we are in now.

There are a few things I should know with my given background. I should know more about the political world with my involvement in policy debate, I should know all the differences between type I and type II diabetes being a pre-health student, and I should know a calculus book and computer inside out being a socially awkward, glasses wearing, 5'3" college freshmen with no athletic skills. But despite what I don’t know, there a few things I do know of.

For starters, I know that as a species we are all interconnected in one way or another. The human race is a pretty interesting group of beings. Whatever we end up doing we are all helpers and supporters despite what profession we end up in. None of our lives exist mutually exclusive from each other, but rather, we all have some sort of inevitable effect of those around us whether it’s direct or indirect. Going to a college that stresses the concept of cultural diversity is quite refreshing and on a small campus, we take pride in the fact that we are a couple steps away from being in front of a person who may inspire our entire lives.

I also know that knowledge is only valuable if we share it with other people and use it while being mindful of the world around us. It does not take being a teacher or a professor to do this. For as long as we have a rational mind that can hold knowledge and a voice to talk about that knowledge we all have the ability to teach others what is beneficial to them. Being able to lend knowledge and help another individual learn is a rewarding experience for the learner as well as the teacher. Recently having the ability to volunteer at elementary and middle schools has made my reason for existence a lot more warranted. Although I may not be the top of my class, my mind contains the knowledge that kids need to strive and if I can inspire many others in the future to learn, how useless can I really be?

I know that generosity and having the drive to do the right thing is important. We may not be able to do every single form of service for the world but knowing what we need to do as an individual human being is crucial as it helps us learn more about the world as well as ourselves. Generosity is a universal language and for as long as we all have the right mindset, we can survive as a team.

I know that we should not live our lives in hate and narcissism. I understand that there are many of us who are very intelligent and knowledgeable about many things that others may not know about. I also understand that there are people who live very legitimate lives based on the things they do which are universally right i.e. voting, keeping up with politics, essentially knowing how the world works, etc. But just because there are people who do the right things and there are people who don’t, that is not enough to say that we should disregard certain people; and this definitely does not mean that we should be divided. Asking people things like “How do you not know that?” or “Do you not understand?” or the blood boiling “What’s wrong with you?” may be extremely tempting at times but at the end of the day we must replace those questions with actions that make others aware that we are all united. There is nothing I hate more than people who will turn a blind eye to anyone who they deem as being “lower” than them because this is inevitably counter-productive. We are all interconnected, so for us to hate the people that may help us in the future is foolish and by no means is anyone a waste of space (as much as this may be extremely tempting to say right now). We all have some sort of reason to live and we will all be better off if we can find that reason soon and encourage others to find their reason as well. Finding a person’s purpose in living is a catalyst for better things to come for as long as motivation plays a factor in all their decision making.