Li 1 Peggy Hnatusko Moreau FYE 1 March 2022 To a loving friend, family member, and passionate individual As Benjamin Franklin famously put it, nothing in this world is certain except death and taxes. Although there are countless ways people avoid paying their taxes every year, no one’s figured out how to avoid death. So, even though I’m eighteen years old and hopefully won’t be dying in the foreseeable future, it doesn’t mean that death is something that doesn’t concern me. When I do inevitably die in the future, I’d like to be remembered as someone who tried his best to be a loving friend and family member, and someone who worked his hardest in his career and to improve the surrounding community. (Hence the title.) Essentially, I want to experience a life well-lived, which I broadly define as a life without any regrets. However, I do think that there are some obvious signs of a life well-lived, which include living every moment to its fullest and serving the surrounding people and community. In between right now and when I die in the future, what do I want to accomplish? Although it’s a very rough plan, I’d like to graduate from Notre Dame in three years, find a job working on cutting-edge technology with airplanes/jets, get married, and maybe have a few kids. I’d also like to live near my parents so that I can visit them often and help them out if they ever needed/wanted it. When I die, I want to have lived a life that was full of lots of different passions and various interests. I don’t want people to reflect on my life and be able to summarize it in one word. For example, although I want to be an engineer, I don’t want to “just” be an engineer. I was always interested in engineering and designing things but coming to Notre Dame has also Li 2 made me interested in potentially learning some music theory, philosophy, and Mandarin outside of class. In the future, I’d like to use my engineering skills to create a new and innovative aircraft, but I also want to serve the community through advocating for diversity and inclusion. A lot of my inspiration for wanting to be remembered this way comes from watching the film about Father Hesburgh’s life, where the film says, “He did a lot of things that people thought of as not particularly ‘priest-y’; he was entrepreneurial” (Hesburgh directed by Patrick Creadon – Moreau FYE Week Two). This quote shows that Father Hesburgh broke a lot of societal norms that others placed on him, and I want to be remembered in a similar way. I might not achieve a fraction of the things that he accomplished, but I strive to eventually be able to provide the same kind of impact he had on others. This also ties in with one the conversation activity in Week Five, where the conversation made me think, “One thing that stretched my awareness of myself was how much I could influence the people around me without even realizing it” (Week Five Discernment Conversation Activity – Moreau FYE Week Five). This conversation really made me realize that I want to be remembered as someone who had a positive impact on others. Whether it be through leadership, volunteering, tutoring, parenting, etc., I think that there are many ways to positively impact others and I want to be remembered as someone who did so. As I mentioned previously, I’m really just striving for a life well-lived, but there are many different ways to interpret what this truly means. For me, it means a life without any regrets. One way to live life without regrets is to not get caught up in the small, everyday business of life. I think it’s really important to occasionally take breaks and just reflect on life as a bigger picture and a slow, gradual process. This viewpoint that I have is largely inspired by a quote from Week One, “It’s only by stepping farther back and standing still that we can begin to Li 3 see what that canvas (which is our life) really means, and to take in the larger picture” (“Why we need to slow down our lives” by Pico Iyer – Moreau FYE Week One). Even at Notre Dame with midterms and clubs and other activities, I’ve found ways to slow down and take breathers before bed or in the morning so that I can reflect on my life and decide what I want to do with it. By slowing down life and taking a look at the bigger picture, it’s really allowed me to realize how much of an impact everything has on my life. From friends and family members to clubs and classes, everything has really changed my life a lot. I think living a life well-lived and not having regrets means being able to take in each experience and truly learning from it. That’s why I loved the quote I chose from Week Four, which was, “Every experience shapes you in some way, whether you realize it at the time or not!” (“Navigating Your Career Journey – Moreau First Year Experience Course” by Muerelo Family Center for Career Development – Moreau FYE Week Four). At Notre Dame, I’ve been trying to live a life well-lived by taking in each moment and trying to focus on the present and not be overwhelmed at what the future holds. Hopefully, I can be remembered as someone who made the most of every moment when I eventually die in the future. Finally, I think the last important part of living a life without regrets (life well-lived) is forming strong and healthy relationships with those around me. From friends to family members, every one of the people that I’m close to right now are irreplaceable. They’ve brought so much joy to my life and helped me so much that I really think it’s impossible to live a life well-lived without these kind of relationships. That’s why I think the quote from Tattoos on the Heart is amazing where it says, “Alone, they didn’t have much, but together, they had a potful of plenty” (“Chapter 8: Jurisdiction” by Fr. Greg Boyle, S.J. – Moreau FYE Week Seven). I think that it shows that individually, we all face our own struggles. We all face problems and life isn’t always Li 4 perfect, but with the support of others, we can rely on one another to create something amazing. That’s part of the reason that I’ve been trying to get involved with lots of different clubs at Notre Dame, from the rocket team to the table tennis team, I think that the friendships I’ve made so far at Notre Dame are critical to living a life well-lived. However, how can one tell if a life is well-lived or not? Personally, I think good signs of a life well-lived include making the most out of every moment and unconditionally helping others. In Week Three, there was an article that advocated for focusing on the realization that death is inevitable. “The concept is to intentionally think about your own death every day, as a means of appreciating the present and focusing on the future” (“Meet the nun who wants you to remember you will die” by Ruth Graham – Moreau FYE Week Three). I’d argue that a life well- lived is one that makes the most of every moment, where there are no regrets because there is no wasting time or wasting the present. Again, I hope to be remembered as someone who had a life well-lived and didn’t waste their time. Another sign of a life well-lived comes from the video in Week Six, where the speaker encourages us to “just focus on what we can do for others or what we can do already instead of what we cannot do and what we do not have yet” (“5 Minutes” by Aria Swarr – Moreau FYE Week Six). I think this ties back into my definition of living a life without regrets because this mindset is very optimistic and looks toward the present and the future instead of the past. It shows that a life well-lived involves helping others and serving the community. Essentially, I’d like for my eulogy to reflect that I lived a life well-lived. This includes not having any regrets, having strong relationships, serving those around me, making the most of every moment, and having a positive impact on everyone that I come across. I think that my time here at Notre Dame so far is helping me achieve some of these goals, but I realize that these Li 5 things aren’t always easy to do. Hopefully though, I have a long time to slowly work towards these goals and make it a reality in the future.