Integration 2 - Robert Corrato Robert Corrato Integration 2 12/3/21 Taylor Kelly Coming Closer to Take a Step Back Why me? Throughout this semester, Notre Dame has provided me with some of my greatest friendships I will ever make along with a surround sound of inspiration from other students and professors. What made me so special from the other students who both go to Notre Dame/Holy Cross versus people I used to be with at my old school? This is why my question will take time to understand because I am extremely confident that my older-self will in fact prove that to younger me. I don’t know exactly when it will be or how it will happen, but I have never been so confident in both the world and in myself that I will do something to show all of those whoever doubted me that I was different and I was selected to be at the greatest Catholic university for a reason, and not that reason only. This sounds rather full of myself, but when you give a college freshman an assignment when they are required to write about themselves from a collection of other writings that were again all about themselves, what do you truly expect? How time is ultimately supposed to tell where we will stand at this university, but I think I am very, very, far from this situation. Where will I be? For sure, I am less worried about the little things, for example, making sure my laundry isn’t left in the dryer overnight or I go to bed too late/get enough sleep. As of right now, I feel like I am in the midst of the college experience. Still though, I do not feel as responsible as I should be. Although confusing, the “black and white” ambiguities of the college experience are extremely prevalent. These ambiguities include organizational skills, emotional responses, and diving into uncertainty, something many students over the past two years have faced. But through this, clarity is now at the forefront, eyes open and ready to strive forward. Combined, my experience through Moreau First Year Experience and the newness of the practical completion of my first semester at the University of Notre Dame, has ultimately “changed me.” What did you expect me to say? Of course college changed me. But, how and why it changed me is the true question. Coming into a new area, like everyone and everything, you will experience some type of development. That goes for everything too; joining a new group of friends, coming to a new school, or joining a new team (cough cough Brian Kelly). When some place is caring enough for them to welcome you with open arms, then you are bound to succeed only with you keeping up your end of the bargain. That specific end is considered to be things that surround others with the aids to help them succeed. Do you understand how it’s full circle now? One of those things that I believe hold up your end is to always “love thy neighbor as yourself” This means, quite literally, to treat those the way you want to be treated. At Notre Dame especially, from the first step on campus, I could feel the radiation of non-intimate love coming from many areas (especially the grotto). As said in Father Jenkins’ commencement address during the Wesley Theological Seminary in 2012, “And this command to love is found not only in Scripture, but in our hearts. Love is the deepest human need. Each human being has a deep spiritual, psychological, and emotional longing for love.” (Wesley Theological Seminary by Fr. Jenkins - Moreau FYE Week Ten) All these people who I encountered at Notre Dame and Holy Cross are deserving of my love, just as Father Jenkins stated. Have there been people who I have come across here who I immediately didn’t get along with or like? Yes, of course, that is basic human nature. But, still being open to allow them to grow on you or settle your differences are both signs of love. While I’ve learned about those signs of love, I have realized that the bonds are more important that you make when you’re in college. These friendships are monumental that you make during the first year. Coming into this new area of unknowns with friends makes the https://president.nd.edu/homilies-writings-addresses/wesley-theological-seminary-commencement/ experience very, very helpful. When there are times of triumph and mental toughness, friends who I have encountered are and have been incredibly resourceful in my time here. Whether it’s in the classroom, dorm, or about any of my problems hundreds of miles away back in Philadelphia. Yet, many people are threatened by this action of lending a helping hand, being too conservative with their feelings. In Week 11, we are taught by Parker J. Palmer. She states how, “Ironically, we often resist leaders who call upon our resourcefulness...but I am going to create a space in which you can do it for yourselves.” (Thirteen Ways of Looking at Community - Moreau FYE Week Eleven) That space, which I have been successfully established, has been an integral part of how I have made and understood how my friends act and express themselves emotionally. I would never want anyone to convince themselves of their own inadequacy, pain, or suffering. I felt that I have been surrounded by multiple types of leaders in a variety of different spaces/situations, and I am eternally grateful to call those leaders my friends. Not being a lonely college student, quite literally, was a blessing upon another blessing. I am sure everybody who has been to college before can attest to that. Though, unfortunately, there are many lonely college students, determined to get high grades to make their future as bright as possible. During the ninth week of the semester, we watched the award winning film “Advice From a Lonely College Student.” The most influential quotations from the main protagonist Emily Bergmann states, “Expecting close relationships like the ones that had taken years to develop was unfair to myself and the people around me. Going to college is a massive change — so many students are being uprooted from the familiar comforts of their homes and thrust into a completely new place. It was beyond unrealistic for me to anticipate a seamless transition.” (Advice From a Formerly Lonely College Student - Moreau FYE Week Nine) Focused on the end, that “seamless transition” would be something impossible without hope. All students, big http://couragerenewal.org/parker/writings/13-ways-of-looking-at-community/ https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/09/well/family/advice-from-a-formerly-lonely-college-student.html and small, must come into a new situation like this one with even the littlest bit of hope that they will find their little niche during the first days, weeks, months, or semester of college. From personal experience, I came right through the gates of Notre Dame on North Notre Dame Ave. with hope that I would once be here. I came into my dorm and met my roommates for the first time with hope that these guys will be some of my best buds. Hope from all levels is extremely important, but we must be reminded to constantly live and grow in hope. In the ninth week, we are taught how it’s normal for your hope to change, and how it’s ok. On page 44 of the Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis writes, “... This means that while their spirit can be directed to an external object, their bodies, passions, and imaginations are in continual change, for to be in time means to change.” (Screwtape Letters - Moreau FYE Week Nine) One thing that I had to learn accompanied with hope has to be the ability to react positively to change. Personally, I firmly believe with change always comes a new hope. With hope, comes the happiness that all people so eagerly oftentimes fight for. All of these experiences and memories that I have made in this first semester reminds me of how each encounter happens for a reason. This mindset isn’t everybody’s and I do know that, but this is my integration and nobody else’s. Overall, I am proud to say that these actions that have happened for a reason has been an amazing response, an answer that I was so unsure about only four measly months ago. http://www.preachershelp.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/lewis-screwtape-letters.pdf