Integration Three
Moreau FYS
March 2022

The Present is the Answer 

	Thank you all for being here today to remember Juliana. It means a lot that you are here and I know she’s happy to see all of the people she loved together. 
	How to begin talking about Juliana? It’s a hard question for me to answer simply because there is so much she has taught us. There is so much admiration in my heart for that woman. In general it was the way she lived in the moment that inspired me the most on how I, too, want to live my life. I think I will start with the way she lived her life. The soft and steady pace with which she took every day. The way she enjoyed every moment, every laughter, every tear, and of course, every second she had to debate! What were you expecting? It’s her! I remember specifically, this one time at Notre Dame, we were sitting in World Politics class and the period had ended. Everyone sprinted out of class but she stayed, she needed to talk to the professor and tell her that the world wasn’t just made up of America. She was furious to see a World Politics class be so… how did she put it? “retrograda” or close minded. She loved that word. I told her to run, we had a test next period. I said “it’s fine, let it go, we have a test in an hour”. She stopped me and held my arm as she said “the test is a problem for Juliana in an hour’s time. Juliana now wants to make the professor aware of her opinion”. It was the little things like this that prevented her from losing focus and kept her grounded through her life. She knew that all the distractions we have in modern times could mean “were never caught up with our lives” (“Why we need to slow down our lives” by Pico Iyer- Moreau Week 1). But she refused to get caught up in the trap of technology and what a fast pace life meant for humanity. Her mind was very clear and she knew that she had something to do NOW and it was in the present that she was living, she worried about the future “later” and, later never came. She worried so little, she simply lived. 
	How to forget the amazing work she did to reform education in the world. She started when she was 15, quite young if you ask me. She helped connect teachers to coaches so that they too, would have a guide through life. It was a form of reciprocity that she felt we had to give because of what education means for us. She was the live demonstration that “our words are buttressed by our deeds, and our deeds are inspired by our convictions” (“Hesburgh”- Moreau week 2). She lived her life full of intention and she wasn’t afraid to support her words with actions and her actions came from the deepest part of her heart. Her intention was set in the moment and the consequences of her actions were based on what she wanted to do as she acted, living fully.
	Everything she did revolved around living, living in the present. She combatted one of the hardest moments in her life by living in the presence. She faced a tough moment of self-doubt and inner battle when she left her hometown to move to Indiana for college. She then understood that “The more time the participants spend in introspection, the less self-knowledge they have” (“The right way to be introspective (yes, there’s a wrong way)” by Tasha Eurich- Moreau Week 6). Instead, she focused on living every second as if it were her last, and slowly rose over her depression, leaving it behind and rising above it to recover her inner peace and transmit it to everyone around her. A New York Times article on Sister Theresa Aletheia explored the idea of living life in constant acknowledgment of death. (“Meet the Nun Who Wants You to Remember You Will Die” by Ruth Graham- Moreau week 3) This allows one to put life into perspective and understand that it is temporary. This is how Juliana lived her life, for its meaning and not for its perceived physical value. Putting Juliana’s life into perspective it’s easy to understand how simple it was for her to decide what actions to take, she lived in the moment understanding that it’s all for a cause greater than her. 
	An experience that I remember her always telling me about was one she had during her Moreau class. It was during her second semester and the instructor guided them to participate in a ‘speed dating’ exercise for students to get to know their peers. She was fascinated as she talked to everyone and noticed a common pattern, they all judged their success through their values. Career satisfaction is measured by one’s “values, interests, personality, and skills (“Navigating Your Career Journey - Moreau First Year Experience Course”- Moreau week 4). This is reflected through her various years dedicated to public policy. The impact she made in advocating for policy reforms in education was life changing for many and shows how values are the only important aspect in one’s sense of success in life. “If you live in the moment and are comfortable with who you are then, you are doing this right,” she said. 
	I was talking to her father last night and he told me about a conversation they had during her freshman year of college. She asked them a couple of questions, one of them being “ tell me something that is hard for me to hear“ (Moreau- week 5) As her parents talked to her the delicate understanding and open mind she heard them through exposed a lot about her character.  “When one realizes that life, even in the middle of so many contradictions, is a gift, that love is the source and the meaning of life” (“His Holiness Pope Francis Filmed in Vatican City First shown at TED2017”. Moreau week 7). She experienced the true meaning of life through focusing on the love that existed in even the most uncomfortable situations. 
	In conclusion, we can meditate through Juliana’s life and understand the value that living in the moment and staying present has on whether a life is “well-lived” or not. However, the simple fact that all of us are here together mourning her death and celebrating her life with a lot of love is more than enough to know that she definitely lived her life well.