How did it go by so quickly? Already, more than one month of 2008 has passed. Just yesterday, we were writing New Year’s resolutions. Today, we are reminded of the passage of time and, perhaps guiltily, of those resolutions.
Have you gotten closer to the goals you set at the beginning of the year?
Are you any closer to accomplishing the things you want to accomplish?
Are you any closer to being the person you want to be?
As I reflect upon these questions, I realize that my own response is a disheartening no. Upon further rumination, I realize why I can’t answer yes to these questions: I am scared.
I am scared to change, and of change. I am afraid to step out of my comfort zone. I fear the uncertainty that lies ahead if I strive to do something different in or with my life.
And, ultimately, I fear failure.
Yet, I know I am not alone. I know these fears are applicable, not just to me, but to many others.
And these fears aren’t new: They are prevalent throughout society and history. Not so long ago, women had to fight for their basic rights: the right to vote, the right to divorce, the right to own land, the right to have equal pay for equal work-in short, the right to be equal to men.
It is safe to say that now, these ideas are the norm in society. But during the past 200 years, they were radical concepts, totally against the status quo. These rights were not given to women. They had to be demanded, and that was a long and formidable process.
The same can be said about the abolition of slavery or the struggle for Civil Rights. Someone saw the inhumanity of slavery. Someone saw the inhumanity of “separate but-equal” facilities. And someone had to take a stand.
Someone had to have the audacity to believe that inequality between genders, between races, between classes, was unfair. Some people, many people, had to have the ability to overcome their fears in order to achieve a goal, knowing that failure was possible. Yet, when they were successful, even more people followed, and social revolutions took place. In each case, people believed in their goals, risked failure, resolved to change the world, and then changed it.
After looking at the end result in each case-gaining women’s rights, ending slavery and bringing equality to all people-it seems that the beginning of these tasks would be extremely daunting, especially since failure was such a colossal possibility.
Yet these social changes couldn’t have happened if the people making them were scared into inaction. One person took a step, and then took another step, and then others took steps. With time and effort, great changes were accomplished.
Although, as college students, our goals may not be as enormous as the great social and historical achievements of the past, our goals still matter, even if only to ourselves.
We have eleven months left in 2008; let’s make the changes we want. Let’s accomplish our goals this year. Let’s become the people we envision ourselves to be. Let’s have confidence in ourselves. Let’s change ourselves, and we’ll change the world!
Samiksha Tarun is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences.
