Love Requires a Sacrifice Erik Oswald Moreau First-Year Experience Love Requires a Sacrifice My three greatest values are inner harmony, close relationships, and the quality of what I take part in. I am at my best when I love myself, love my surroundings, and love what I am doing. I am at my worst when I do not have inner harmony, when I feel unloved, and when I do not like what I am doing. This has been constant throughout my life, but it has become clearer as I continue to experience life independently in college. I want to be a person that can hold myself to the things that I believe in. I want to be a person who does not crack or become wishy-washy under pressure. I want to live with no regret, take pride in what I say and do, and feel loved by those around me. I think achieving joy is the highest good one can pursue in life because once one reaches that state they can free themselves to do what they truly want. My dad is the person that I look up to most, and my mom is the person that makes me feel the most loved. My dad is not intimidated in pressured situations, and he rarely seems to doubt himself. My mom loves others so well and so much, and she holds herself to the highest standards–sometimes to a fault. She is an advocate for a better world tomorrow. I want to embody the best parts of my parents and be comfortable with all of the parts about me(Personal Mission Statement, Isaac Bernsten–Moreau FYE Week 13). This personal mission statement describes all of the central aspects of how I want to live my life. Others would be able to see my mission in action if I am laughing often, being sociable, and working hard at what I am doing. It would be most difficult to implement this mission if I was isolated because my inner harmony is often dependent on companions, my relationships are dependent on my inner harmony, and what I take part in is dependent on both. Physical isolation, however, can be a catalyst for personal growth in ways that allow me to build better relationships, pursue more tailored passions, and discover even more about myself. Each of the modules this semester has a lesson about how it looks when my mission is succeeding or failing, and they also all have relevance to my time at Notre Dame. Pico Iyer was right that we need to slow down our lives, and I think that it applies to all three of my mission statements(Why we need to slow down our lives, Pico Iyer–Moreau FYE Week 1) . Slowing down our lives is necessary to finding inner harmony, building friendships, and finding my passion. I have found meditation as a way to achieve inner harmony, spending longer amounts of time with people to build friendships, and choosing PLS as a major, a major of thinking and reading, as a way to slow my life down. The Hesburgh film was very relevant to pursuing a quality future career. His conscientiousness of the world’s problems and his persistence in solving them is an inspiration for me and for Notre Dame, and made me realize that I would have to do something to help others, regardless of pay, if I was to be fulfilled(Hesburgh, Jerry Barca and Christine O’malley–Moreau FYE Week 2). Father Himes’s Three Key Questions are, I think, an excellent way to discern one’s path in life, and I think that it applies excellently to the third part of my mission statement. Finding what gives me joy, what I am good at, and what is needed of me is the best way to find one’s vocation(Three Key Questions, Father Himes–Moreau FYE Week 3). I think that I am still figuring out what I am good at and what gives me joy, but I have already started the process by learning that I have loved my CSC immersion trips and the leadership and service opportunities they present. In the article by the Meruelo Center, they write that every experience changes you(Navigating your career journey, Meruelo Center–Moreau FYE Week 4). I have had some https://ideas.ted.com/why-we-need-a-secular-sabbath/ https://notredame.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=10159379-7eca-4549-8581-ab9500c9ecd9 https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/39695/files/469291?module_item_id=144741 https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/39695/files/469291?module_item_id=144741 https://undergradcareers.nd.edu/navigating-your-career-journey---moreau/ good and bad experiences here at Notre Dame, but I think that I have used them to be a better version of myself. Although Welcome Weekend may have been awkward, it was also essential to me becoming comfortable on campus. It made me realize that I want to be a part of Welcome Weekend, and now I am on the Committee. I think this will allow me to build better relationships with the people on the committee and the freshman, which is important in my mission statement. My discernment conversation with my mom enlightened me as to what inspires me to take part in things and confirmed my values. She observed that I am passionate about questions of “why” rather than one particular issue, which I think is important in determining a career that requires investigation and questions. She also confirmed that I value community, sincerity, and challenge(Discernment Conversation–Moreau FYE Week 5). This is why I chose PLS, because it teaches me how to think rather than what to think, and why I involve myself in the dorm so much, because I appreciate culture and community. There is also a wrong way to be introspective, which I have discovered the hard way in the past. Too much introspection, as Tasha Eurich wrote, can produce the wrong answers and lead to more anxiety and depression(The right way to be introspective, Tasha Eurich–Moreau FYE Week 6). This article bears a lot of relevance to my mission of inner harmony. Rather than trying to pinpoint explanations for different dissonances I have, I let the answers come to me or I talk it out with several trusted friends. And I never burn a bridge, because I always think that there is more to learn about oneself. Pope Francis proposes a radical view of love, saying that it is only love if it is at the expense of oneself(Why the only future worth building includes everyone, Pope Francis–Moreau FYE Week 7). I think that this is essential to having a healthy relationship. Relationships are about the sacrifices, not the easy choices, so I have been trying to be more generous with my https://ideas.ted.com/the-right-way-to-be-introspective-yes-theres-a-wrong-way/ https://www.ted.com/talks/his_holiness_pope_francis_why_the_only_future_worth_building_includes_everyone/transcript time and money with my friends this semester. Accompaniment has been crucial in my education because it is the best way in which we learn, as Reifenberg learns on his trip in South America(A Learning Journey Together, Steven Reifenberg–Moreau FYE Week 9). My seminars and immersions this year have been my greatest learning experiences to date, and it was because the learning process was two ways between me and my teachers and peers. This enhanced my personal harmony, relationships, and understanding of what I want to participate in. Coming to Notre Dame was a culture shock in many ways, the most being diversity and wealth. In the Huffpost article, the author talks about how disruptions in white people feeling as if they belong in every situation causes them to retreat and avoid conversations about race(Why it is so hard to talk to white people about racism, Dr. Robin Diangelo–Moreau FYE Week 10). I felt somewhat disrupted in coming here and seeing a campus dominated by white people and incredible wealth; not as if I did not belong, but as if I was seeing a fantasy world that most people do not live in. This informed my perception about the friendships I was making and what I want to change. I realized that we do not need much to get by, but so many people here and even in lower classes have been convinced that they need more than they do. I want to be a part of a movement to return to simplicity. Hersh says in a podcast that although the population seems to be more engaged in politics through words and posts, the participation is much more superficial than ever and is therefore ineffective(https://hiddenbrain.org/podcast/passion-isnt-enough/, Eitan Hersh–Moreau FYE Week 11). This article informs my mission statement by making me aware of the tremendous power of action, and the tremendous power of inaction, and how I want to be on the side of change in history with whatever I do. In one of the Symposium Summaries, it examines the result of the Afghanistan War and calls on nations to demilitarize(Moment to See, Courage to https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hZbSdVImfn2hZDqMrdL96dZCNOtHuf6C-lg3sH-Rs30/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hZbSdVImfn2hZDqMrdL96dZCNOtHuf6C-lg3sH-Rs30/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bdVnfLDrJUJhd-4UtYb_kfRpcFgOoOeY7O1WT8_d3iw/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bdVnfLDrJUJhd-4UtYb_kfRpcFgOoOeY7O1WT8_d3iw/edit https://hiddenbrain.org/podcast/passion-isnt-enough/ https://provost.nd.edu/about/provosts-initiatives/moment-to-see-courage-to-act/msca-symposium/#summaries Act, David Cortright–Moreau FYE Week 12). Demilitarization represents a larger movement of vulnerability that the world needs in order to truly cause peace and universal brotherhood. Vulnerability has never been a huge problem of mine; rather, it has been instrumental to my making of friends and my maintenance of my harmony. I hope that whatever career I pursue I am able to show others the benefits of letting others into your life. I think that all of these modules approach the understanding that hard choices and sacrifices can lead to a life well-lived, and they certainly allow me to accomplish and live out my mission statement. Love is an attitude that should permeate our lives, as Pope Francis believes, and the only way to truly do that is to make sacrifices. Whatever I do in the future, I hope to embody my mission statement through these purposeful choices. https://provost.nd.edu/about/provosts-initiatives/moment-to-see-courage-to-act/msca-symposium/#summaries