Mid-Term Blues

I can’t believe the semester is half over! It is going by so quickly. At this rate I will be on a cruise ship in the Caribbean with my family before I know it.

I have come to a conclusion about grad school: I think it is the goal to morph all of us into this mold of ‘grad student.’ It’s like the goal is to create a class of people who use big words and fancy language, read political theory for fun, spend hours in the library studying… something, and are constantly fine tuning their resume and networking to obtain the ‘dream job’.

The thing is, I have no desire to be like them. I have no desire to come out the other end of this thing and be anything more than what I am now, just with some more general knowledge and hopefully some more understanding. If anything I see my personal and spiritual growth through this process as equally if not MORE important than the ‘education’ my classes are providing me.

I would consider myself lucky if I ended grad school markedly and noticeably different than the rest of my classmates. I refuse to be motivated my money and/or status (ironic considering our field of study). I refuse to be disappointed if I am not on the path to be the next Secretary of State. I might come out the other end without a job and any prospects… but that is a part of the journey, and I look forward to it. In fact, I kinda hope that I do… it sounds like an adventure!

The reality is I can do anything I want to do. And even if I have a Masters degree I can still clean toilets if that is what makes me happy. I don’t have to talk like I read the dictionary and claim to understand post-structuralism.

I didn’t come to DC to be changed by grad school, I came to DC to be shaped by Christ.