Week 14 - Integration 4


Jamie Reintjes

Todd Taylor

Moreau Capstone Integration

Loving Action and Calming Presence

Amazingly, I survived my first year of college. This whirlwind of football games, Chinese

exams, and learning whatever economics is has been one of the best years of my life, and I want to

now look towards giving back to this wonderful community that has welcomed me with open hearts

and arms. As life goes on, I will commit myself to the Notre Dame community, fostering loving and

fulfilling relationships with others, creating space for justice and trust everywhere I go.

Looking back at the start of the semester, I had committed myself to a daily meditation

practice. Unfortunately, I cannot say I was perfect in this goal, but I will not be pessimistic and say

I did not achieve it. Life is not easy, and even if I did not give myself the space to meditate and

reflect every day, I nevertheless sought to do the best I could given the circumstances. Looking

back at when Pico Iyer said, “The need for an empty space, a pause, is something we have all felt in

our bones; it’s the rest in a piece of music that gives it resonance and shape,” really helps affirm

that while we need rest, it is impossible to just have silence (Why We Need to Slow Down Our

Lives by Pico Iyer – Moreau Week 1). Sometimes the melody of life contains dissonance, other

times a great fortissimo of sound that is almost deafening before silence can come, and recognizing

that is enough to show that I took rests when rests where necessary and I joined in song when

encouraged! The Center for Action and Contemplation has been an organization that sends daily

meditations and their mission is very similar to what I hope to achieve. Promoting both active

contemplation and contemplative action that promotes more fully the human person.

Relating this idea of action and contemplation, Father Hesburgh is certainly an example I

hope to better emulate as he exemplifies these traits. The fact that he was a bridge for all people to

come together is not only something I want to strive for, but is also something I want to actively

encourage other people to do (Hesburgh by Jerry Barca and Christine O’Malley – Moreau Week 2).

Father Hesbrugh is such a revered person, I believe, not only because of the work he personally

https://ideas.ted.com/why-we-need-a-secular-sabbath/
https://ideas.ted.com/why-we-need-a-secular-sabbath/


did, but also because he inspired and cultivated other people to lovingly act in the name of justice.

The act of being a bridge is at both an active and a receptive role. Active in that you have to forge a

connection that previously did not exist or an avenue that was not considered and passive in that as

a bridge, you only act as a means for two ideas to come together. You are the foundation for which

other people can take further action. This inspirational figure is something I hope to achieve,

because while I struggle to consider myself as a full blown leader like a president, being someone

who can advise and direct others in the right direction is something I feel is more attainable. The

power of influence is one I have come to deeply respect and also rightly fear because it is a

powerful force.

Being able to persuade others in the truest sense not only requires you to convince others

to believe in a cause, but the cause must also be something that you also full-heartedly believe in. It

is not simply enough to direct others to action, but you must also fully participate in this goodness

you want to see in this world. And while I believe that I have taken great strides in terms of

handling my pessimistic outlook, the people around me have helped encourage my own hope and I

recognize that I must actively return the favor. Reminding myself what Ophelia Dahl said, “To not

be optimistic is just about the most privileged thing you can be,” I need to continue to work one

seeing past the darkness of the world and find the light within it all (Teaching Accompaniment by

Steve Reifenberg – Moreau Week 9). Even considering the darkest moments of this past semester,

I can look back and still feel and see the love and care that was shown to me and I can continue to

hope for the goodness in people’s hearts considering the support system I have been able to find

here. Whether it be professors, staff, or my close friends, I am confident in their love for me and I

will continue to walk this journey of life with them, sharing in that love. Seeing what my friends

have done for me, I wish to not only return the love they have shown me, but also extend that love to

others and be open to expanding my Notre Dame family.

Cultivating a loving environment is definitely a lofty goal though, and I recognize the

importance of working reflection into action. As in the article by Hidden Brain Media, people often

“will learn a lot of facts and talk about those facts. They will participate in a kind of craft,”

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hZbSdVImfn2hZDqMrdL96dZCNOtHuf6C-lg3sH-Rs30/edit


(Passion isn’t Enough by Hidden Brain Media – Moreau Week 11). It is all fine and dandy for me to

be talking about being a good person, and I am taking the first step in being a good person by

reflecting on what it means to be a good person, but it ultimately requires some form of action to

show that I am a good person. And I think right now, the first action I want to take is thanking you,

Professor Taylor, for the past semester. Not only have you been a great professor, fostering my

reflection on what it means to live a life well-lived, but also for the support you have given me

throughout the semester. You have been a great source of inspiration in terms of what a good life

can look like, and that it is perfectly okay to spend time looking for it. And the second action I will

be taking is also another thank you. A thank you to my high school choir director. I am currently

writing this reflection on the train to Chicago before heading home for this weekend. My brother is

performing tomorrow night for his spring concert, and it will also be my choir director's last

performance with Rockhurst High School. By coming home this weekend, I want it to be clear how

grateful I am to him and his work he put into making me the singer I am today. He is yet another

great inspiration in what it means to live a life well-lived, and he has shown me that it is perfectly

possible to make your career something you are passionate about. It would be a missed opportunity

not to be there for his last concert and to sing with him at least one more time.

And so, with this final paragraph, it feels like my semester is over. Sure, I have exams next

week, but really and truly, my first year of college has been completed. And I could not be more

excited, grateful, joyful, sad, and even a little scared about it all. Excited because I know for a fact

that these next three years will be amazing. Grateful for all the people who have made and continue

to make life awesome. Joyful for the opportunities I have been given and those that still await me.

Sad, for time has flown by and I will soon be saying goodbye to some of my dearest friends and they

start a new chapter of life without me. And of course scared, because I do not know exactly what

the future holds for me. But, it is totally okay to be scared, because as my choir director told me,

being scared just shows you how much you care about the thing you are going to undertake. And

this life is going to be the biggest and most fulfilling undertaking I am going to work for!

https://hiddenbrain.org/podcast/passion-isnt-enough/