By Jim Mahar, Professor Columnist
Bittersweet is the word that has been bouncing around inside my head all week. It is the feeling I would wager many of you are experiencing. Regardless of if you are a graduating senior, a student going home for summer or a professor preparing finals, you are likely simultaneously feeling both happy and sad right now.
There are a plethora of reasons for your happiness. Many of you are happy for graduation and the celebration of a job well done. You are happy for new challenges. Some are happy to be going home to family and loved ones, others because of a job or an internship. And lest we forget faculty; we really are very happy for the graduates and thrilled by seeing the success of those we helped move on to the next stages of their lives. And all of us are tired after cramming in as much life into every day as humanly possible.
But, for almost every one of the feelings of joy and celebration, there is also a twinge of trepidation and gnawing sadness. We feel sadness that our friends will not be around as much, trepidation that we will be facing new challenges and over leaving Bona’s.
As you go forth, you leave a different person than who you were coming onto campus. You have learned new skills, stretched your intellect, matured, made new friends and found a new home. I want to stress, both literally and figuratively, that all of this will go with you wherever you go.
Arguably the two most important things that you learned here are, first, that all people, yourself included, deserve love and respect and, secondly, that everyone can make the world a better place. You may have learned these things in your dorm or on the athletic fields. You may have picked it up in church or at the Warming House. Perhaps you acquired this knowledge in the Bahamas with Enactus or when out helping with BonaResponds.
In the coming years, you will be asked to work and live with people who have different backgrounds and perspectives than you. You will find yourself getting along with others because it is what you know, all because you have lived on a campus where everyone says “hi” to each other and treats others as family.
At a very visceral level, Bona’s and BonaResponds are more than just collections of assets. It is a feeling and way of looking at life and others. It is that “something” that makes the world better and that links us into the great Bonaventure network, but more importantly, into the world itself.
It is with this in mind that I both want to both challenge you and also invite you back. I want to challenge you to make the world better, through not just your job, but also through your interactions and through volunteering. Pick a cause, join a group, form a BonaResponds affiliate in your area, but get out and help. It won’t be easy. There are always a million reasons to say no, but find one reason to say yes. The world needs you to say yes.
Along with that challenge comes an invitation to come back. Our trips and events are open to not just students, but also to anyone who wants to help. We want to work again with you. Plan a reunion trip with your friends or come alone. You will have fun, make a difference and meet new, and old, friends.
And with that, much like I end almost every BonaResponds trip, this is not a “goodbye,” but an “until next time.” So, until next time, please be safe, remember that everyone is special and never forget that you can change the world.
PS. Thank you for reading my column this semester. It was a great experience for me and I hope I gave you a better understanding of what BonaResponds is and what it does.
BonaResponds Notes:
*We changed the dates of our next Texas trip slightly. We will be leaving May 17 to 24. The trip will be similar to our last trip: Fly into Houston Hobby in Dickinson, Texas and a place to stay and food will be free. For more information, please email Yvonne Gehrmann at gehrmayn14@bonaventure.edu.
* We will be working locally this weekend on Saturday at 11 a.m. and Sunday at 11:30 a.m. So, after your Spring Weekend games are done, come on out.
* Quote of the week: “There is nothing more Bonaventure, nothing more Franciscan, nothing more “right,” than being out helping others. It is something we can all do.”
