Angel Gonzalez Rodriguez
Maria Finan
Moreau First-Year Experience
26 April 2022
A Never-Ending Pursuit
When it comes to choosing how to live my life, I have a mission statement that I do my best to stick to at all times. It’s a mission statement that helps guide me as I continue on with my pursuit of a life well-lived. It applies to all areas of my life, a life in which I fill multiple roles ranging from family man to community member on opposite sides of the country. The following is the mission statement I live by, as well as what I will do moving forward to stay true to it.

1. I seek to be present for others as a son, an older sibling, and a friend. 
To be present for others, I will treat others with kindness and respect, just as I would want others to treat me; I will also demonstrate tenderness with others by seeking to see things from their perspective. Perhaps it sounds a bit strange for me to say this, but as His Holiness Pope Francis puts it, tenderness is about “being on the same level as the other. God himself descended into Jesus to be on our level. This is the same path the Good Samaritan took. This is the path that Jesus himself took. He lowered himself, he lived his entire human existence practicing the real, concrete language of love. [...] It is the path of solidarity, the path of humility” (“Why the only future worth building includes everyone” by TED Conferences - Moreau FYE Week Seven). 
Another way in which I will remain present for others is that I pledge to stay true to the commitments I make. The biggest commitment I make with people tends to be that I’ll accompany them at all times, which goes hand in hand with treating them with kindness and respect. As Professor Steve Reifenberg says, “To accompany someone is to go somewhere with him or her, to break bread together, to be present on a journey with a beginning and an end. There’s an element of mystery, of openness, of trust, in accompaniment. The companion, the accompagnateur, says: ‘I’ll go with you and support you on your journey wherever it leads; I’ll share your fate for a while.’ And by ‘a while,’ I don’t mean a little while” (“Teaching Accompaniment: A Learning Journey Together” - Moreau FYE Week Nine). 
I will try to see both sides of an argument before making a judgment; as I view it, to be present for someone involves hearing the argument they’re trying to make, even if it doesn’t align with the argument I would make in the same situation. “When we find ourselves discrediting views we disagree with, and when we find others around us supporting and encouraging us to do so, we need to take a step back and reorient ourselves. We need to ask ourselves whether our picture of our opponents is accurate and well thought-out, or whether we might be trapped in the feedback loops characteristic of echo chambers” (“How to Avoid an Echo Chamber” by Dr. Paul Blaschko, ThinkND - Moreau FYE Week Eleven). 
Lastly, I will not allow the opinions of others to change how I live. My roommate during my freshman year at the University of Notre Dame once told me that “to live a life well-lived, one has to remain true to their ideals and give it their all in the pursuit of what makes them happy” (from Reflection Activity - Moreau FYE Week Five). Being present for others - whether it be for my parents, my younger brother, or my friends - is an ideal I’ve always strived to fulfill, and I can’t become estranged from that ideal (or any other of my ideals) just because some may not agree with me on the subject.

2. Make the most of my four years as a student at the University of Notre Dame from religious, academic, and social standpoints. (This one is subject to change once my time here is up, but for the time being it holds true.)
For starters, I will go to Mass on Sundays - be it in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart or in the chapel in St. Edward’s Hall - to continue strengthening my Catholic faith, which has already grown very strong throughout my freshman year. For many, the Sabbath is “the one day a week we take off” that “becomes a vast empty space through which we can wander, without agenda, as through the light-filled passageways of Notre Dame [de Paris]” (“Why we need to slow down our lives” by Pico Iyer - Moreau FYE Week One). Furthermore, Dr. Jihoon Kim states that “I may not be able to spend the many, many hours to pray [sic] to God, but I will use these five minutes to not just pray for myself. [But] I could pray for others, I could pray for my loved ones, and I will utilize these five minutes and do something about it instead of focusing on what I cannot do” (“5 Minutes” by Aria Swarr - Moreau FYE Week Six). As a busy college student, my academic commitments may not give me time to pray for multiple hours at a time. However, instead of complaining about not being able to observe the entirety of the Sabbath, I do what I can to observe it by setting aside an hour of my day every Sunday to attend Mass as well as saying a quick prayer before I head out the door in the morning and before going to bed at night.
As a scholar, I will do my best to do well in the classroom and to be involved with multiple clubs. “Planning your career is much like planning for a trip. [...] Contrary to popular belief, deciding on a major does not determine the rest of your life” (“Navigating Your Career Journey - Moreau First Year Experience Course” by the Meruelo Family Center for Career Development - Moreau FYE Week Four). I may be set on pursuing a Civil Engineering degree, and while my efforts will mainly be concentrated on doing well in my classes, I also want to have some free time to participate in clubs and explore my interests outside of the classroom. Aside from giving me more things to add to my résumé, I’ll have the opportunity to meet new people and get my mind off of my classes for a little while.
Finally, I will spend a few hours with friends on Friday nights to take a break from my studies. This, coupled with my previous two points in this section, will allow me to come even closer to achieving an optimal work-life balance; my academics won’t leave me too burnt out to where I won’t want to socialize, and my social life won’t negatively affect my academics.

3. As a member of the Notre Dame/South Bend community as well as of the community in my hometown of Healdsburg, I seek to improve the lives of others.
I pledge to do community service with local non-profit organizations. Growing up in the Healdsburg community, I received so many opportunities to excel - namely, a college counseling program through a local non-profit organization, designed for prospective first-generation college students. Now, having spent a year on the Notre Dame campus has opened so many doors for me to excel even more, from internship opportunities to strengthening my faith. And if there’s something both of these communities have provided me with since day one, it’s a great support system that’s composed of multiple individuals. Knowing that I have a great community backing me in my hometown is great, but knowing I have an equally great community at college that also backs me is impossible to beat; I want to give back and assist both communities when possible so that they can benefit from my support, just as I benefit from theirs.
I will offer to interpret for Spanish speakers in settings where only English is spoken, and for English speakers where only Spanish is spoken. My parents’ knowledge of the English language has always been very limited, and therefore I do lots of interpreting and translating for them in a variety of settings and contexts; I’ve done the same for my English-speaking peers whose experience with the Spanish language is not very extensive. Being fluent in both languages, I am more than happy to help others out when they’re struggling to understand a language that isn’t their first language.
I will be inclusive of others, regardless of differences between us. During my time at Notre Dame, I have come across many people whose viewpoints on various topics don’t necessarily align with my own. However, this doesn’t mean that I need to be disrespectful to them; at the end of the day, they’re just as human as I am. These encounters have allowed me to learn that “Notre Dame’s a crossroads, where all the intellectual and moral currents of our times meet and dialogue. A place where all of the burning issues that affect the Church and the world today are plumbed to their depths in an atmosphere of faith. Where differences of culture and religion, conviction can coexist with friendship and civility, and even love” (Fr. Theodore Hesburgh, CSC in Hesburgh - Moreau FYE Week Two). So, though my peers and I may not see eye-to-eye in some regards, efforts will be made on my part for us to get along and be productive with the time we spend together.

4. As an older brother, first-generation college student, and member of multiple communities, I will be an effective leader and role model.
I vow to demonstrate exemplary behavior, always doing my best in everything I do. Primarily, this means continuing to strive for bigger and better things when I reach goals I’ve previously set for myself; this may seem selfish at first, but to support my statement I’d like to mention a quote from Fr. Michael Himes that has really stuck with me. “[St.] Augustine also noted, ‘Dissatisfaction (restlessness) is not a bad thing...indeed it’s the best thing about us.’ It’s what constantly moves us forward, makes us grow, expands our horizons, and deepens our perceptions. It’s a very healthy, a very important, and a very valuable thing” (“Three Key Questions” - Moreau FYE Week Three). In living in dissatisfaction, I’m only seeking to become better and more well-rounded than I already am; it’s through this dissatisfaction that I will continue to set an example for my younger brother to follow as he gets older and begins to see the world through his own lens.
I will remain sober so I can be fully conscious and fully aware of my surroundings at all times. Every group needs a sober friend when going to a party, and though my friends don’t go crazy when we’re at parties, it’s important for one of us to stay sober to ensure we all make it back safely. I will always be the sober friend because a) I’m not attracted to intoxicating myself to any extent, and b) I care about my friends and want to make sure we’re doing well and (responsibly) having a good time. Besides, with a brother who looks up to me and parents who have high expectations - and with a number of drinkers in my family’s past - it wouldn’t be too pleasant for them to see me in any state other than a sober one.
I will call someone out when they’re doing something wrong, even if that person is one of my loved ones. “Not often encountering these challenges [of the notion that white people can represent all of humanity], we withdraw, defend, cry, argue, minimize, ignore, and in other ways push back to regain our racial position and equilibrium. I term that push back white fragility.” (“Why It’s So Hard to Talk to White People About Racism” by Dr. Robin D’Angelo, adapted from HuffPost - Moreau FYE Week Ten). As someone whose friend group constitutes a good amount of white people - some of whom went to private high schools prior to coming to Notre Dame - I can tell when there’s a bit of racial fragility in scenarios where conversations about, say, a growing Latino population in the US are taking place. But instead of bashing them for it, I attempt to educate them in a way that allows them to see my point of view and accept it. But there have been instances in the distant past where, instead of accepting my perspective, I come under fire for it - except that the fire is aimed more at my persona than it is at my words. “As an African-American man, I have had the experience of being pulled over by a police officer, with no apparent or expressed reason for the stop. I have been berated and verbally abused, without receiving a ticket or a warning. The most scarring of these events occurred in front of my two little boys, who are now grown, African-American men themselves.” by Marcus Cole, Dean of the Notre Dame Law School - Moreau FYE Week Twelve). I’ve been on the receiving end of racist remarks, but I’m not afraid to call the other person out for it. Some instances ended with me losing a friend, but it was worth it as long as the racist remarks were heard no longer.