"The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another" (--James Matthew Barrie)

"And the seasons they go 'round and 'round,

and the painted ponies go up and down

we're captive on the carousel of time.

We can't return, we can only look behind

 from where we came,

and go round and round and round

 in the Circle game."

(--Joni Mitchell)

It's that time of year again in our academic cycle:  We're reviewing student applications.  

If you read my blog, you've heard me say before how enamoured I become of our students at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment.    They impress me immensely in their sense of purpose.  They really are extremely smart, passionate, hard-working, and driven in their ideals and their determination to effect positive changes in the world.  

Recently, one of our International students posed the following question: "What should I expect from my life?  Youth confusion."   I'm quite fond of this particular student, and I was so touched with how earnest she was:  I thought about how universal her question is, in a "Man's Search for Meaning" kind of way. 

My heart went out to her, because, well,  let's face it, when your goal is to change the whole world, it's hard to know just where to start.    I wound up commenting to her that if she lives every single day to the best of her ability, in the end, when the days all add up, she'd wind up having lived a very good life..  Her response was "I guess I should JUST DO IT." 

Shouldn't we all....

One of my very favorite Ralph Waldo Emerson quotations is this:

"Finish each day and be done with it.  You have done what you could.  Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in, forget them as soon as you can.  Tomorrow is a new day, you shall begin it well and serenely..."

Have a serene weekend!