This week, we’re featuring our recent interview with AU student, Sarah McDougall. I like this interview, even though Sarah herself says “I haven’t done much.” In fact, that’s why I like it.
It’s okay to have not done much, because I’d bet that’s where a lot of us are coming from as we go through our studies. We see a lot of interviews with amazing students, whether award winners or people who have had to overcome incredible obstacles or done amazing things and it can be hard to remember that the vast majority of us are just students. AU is, for many of us, a starting point to a life that we hope will lead to great things—or sometimes just better things—or maybe even just a sense of security with a skill-set and a degree that can help put food on the table. And we tend to forget that simply doing that can be thought of as a success story. We don’t have to be written into the history books to have a successful and fulfilling life. Our names don’t’ have to be among the award winners to feel worthwhile. Heck, sometimes just managing to put in those few hours of study time on top of everything else that’s going on feels like it should be hailed as a triumph. And really, why shouldn’t it?
It seems so much of our lives are based on the idea of what we should be doing, or what we should be accomplishing, that we tend to gloss over the notion that simply being able to keep hunger from our bellies, a roof over our heads, and some time laughing with our friends puts us further ahead then hundreds of thousands of people around the world. And then on top of that, at AU, we’re making the effort to improve ourselves. Even if we don’t really care about the learning and are only pursuing that piece of paper to get the better job, we’re making that effort. “I haven’t done much,” from an AU student can still be thought of as significantly ahead of the majority of the world’s population. And so I realized that when I read that from an AU student, what I’m really reading is, “I want to do more,” because, after all, if you didn’t, you wouldn’t be at AU in the first place.
However, that’s not our only article this week, as, with the anniversary of the crash of the Humboldt Bronco’s bus right around the corner, Barb Godin has given us an article about “A Day to Remember” that’s definitely worth a read. And this week’s Fly on the Wall is also one that I think is exceptionally good. As always, it’s a read that takes a bit of work, but it’s also one that’s worth it.
Plus, April Fools was this week, so on the website we published Wanda Waterman’s “Excerpt from the Expeditious Vindicator, 1901 on the day. If the name didn’t give it away, some of the advertisements should have. We’ll get back to our regular schedule next week. In the mean time, don’t forget there’s also the events, scholarships, course reviews, advice, news and more all waiting for you. Enjoy the read!
