I sat staring at the book in front of me, and its 330 pages sat there, staring right back; Heroic Leadership sat staring at me. Over two months of summer, I managed to convince myself that the summer reading assignment wasn’t really homework-it wasn’t going to be graded, and there was no penalty for not doing it. Even talking with upperclassmen, I realized it was useless to read the entire book. No professors incorporated the text with their classes, so ultimately it didn’t really matter if I read the book. I decided I would read part, find the main point, and would then be ready for the short discussion, which was really just a simple conversation. ?

After the short discussion in class, I was very proud of myself. I had participated in the discussion often, and I didn’t have to read the entire book. I had put in the absolute minimum effort and accomplished maximum success in the discussion. The truth is that I am not the only one who did this. There were many other students who did not read the book, and I even talked to a few students who did not even purchase it.

In retrospect, I am extremely disappointed in what I and the other students did. Should we as students really be satisfied with doing the bare minimum? Because I was not being forced to do the reading, I decided not to do it. In high school, we were pushed by parents, teachers and sometimes even siblings to study and do well. We were pushed to stay awake during those early hours in the mornings and finish writing or reading in order to ultimately accomplish something.

Now, suddenly, that pressure-that force-is gone. Have we, as students, become, in a word, apathetic?

Without any external driving force, it is much easier to do the bare minimum and not care. Students should ask themselves: “Is this really the kind of person I want to be?”

This is what people must mean when they say college students are entering the real world. No one is forcing us to care in the real world. No one is going to force us to do volunteer work; or to care about the environment. Ultimately, no one is going to force us to become a better person. We can easily go through life taking the easy way out (like me not reading Heroic Leadership)-living that way is easy-and not caring about anyone other than ourselves. But, we need to rise to the challenge. We must strive to become better.

As students and individuals, we must strive to do something better. It is up to us to strive to be someone better. When some students did not come to the discussion, there were no immediate consequences. There was no grade penalty, no negative evaluation and no fear that a GPA or class rank would sink lower.

Seriously, we owe it to ourselves to become better people and to challenge what we already know. That does not necessarily mean that you should read every book ever written on the subject of leadership and Jesuits. It means becoming cognizant of who you are and making sure that you are making a difference-not only in your life, but in others’ lives as well.

Now, after three months of vacation, I still sit staring at the 330 pages. I have decided that I will finish reading this book even though I do not have to. I pose this question to you: What will you do that you are not forced to do?

Samiksha Tarun is a fresman in the College of Arts and Sciences.