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Close the Gap

Tomorrow I return home for Alabama, then Winter Conference in St. Louis, upon my return to Atlanta I will move into my new digs for the rest of my college career, and come January 7, I will re-enter a Georgia Tech classroom for the first time in seventeen months.

Although many scramble to get the piece of paper that gives them a disproportionate and increasingly obsolete feeling of security before they turn 23, I think that the time I have had away from GT, especially the entirety of 2007, has been one of the most formative and important times for me. It certainly has made me appreciate my environment, both immediate and remote, more than before, and I believe that it will make my graduation much more valuable than if I had just rocketed through and even gotten a Co-op designation. My reflections are more sincere than ever before, I have gotten a better sense of place in Atlanta by working as a bartender at the Fox Theatre, and I have had a free hand to prepare my team to handle AIESEC GT for 2008. How thankful I am for that Fate which made Ozymandias of my constructed plans, because had I been in Ecuador, Turkey, or Panama this fall I certainly couldn’t have prepared for LCP like I should have.

I finished a large but important book, Einstein on Politics, the other day. He is a fascinating character who I not only respect as a fellow man of the sciences, but also for his way of thinking and acting with his peers to engage the world on his deeply-felt passion for pacifism and a “world government” to abolish war and conflict. I drew a lot of parallels for AIESEC, but I especially noted that kind of culture that used to exist, and which we have all read about: learned men of old meeting for this conference and that, be it in the upper floor of a tavern or in a parliament hall in Geneva. I draw a convoluted parallel, that of personal connection, in my mode of operation today.

Now I am reading The Power of Myth with Joseph Campbell, which is proving highly influential on me and the way I think. I am seeing the motifs and stories everywhere, including in myself and the parts of my life and those of people around me which I have found interesting. I hope to read a good bit more in general before I return to servitude.

I have enjoyed my week and a half of unadulterated relaxation, which has resulted in many a late rise. I intend to sieze the days I have left, however, so no more such late rises. And this has become a late night – away.

By Preston

Agent of Change, Former of Entropy, Seeker of a Stateless World.

One reply on “Close the Gap”

Joseph Campbell si great. He discovered the story that unites all humanity, and it is one of awakening to the depths of the self as expressed through our actions. Every quest for soemthing outside of us is really a quest for something that is inside – to know ourselves and awaken the hero within.

Understanding the hero’s journey helps me realize that everyone is on a quest of one kind or another for self understanding. Even the most irritating people!

Which legend or story from mythology speaks most powerfully to you?
Ronda

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