A personal thought to those finishing the Core this semester: you are a work in progress.
by Miko Dimov
We were recently chatting with Christopher McMullen, a Core alum and Academic Adviser, and the conversation winded down to how the Core Curriculum merely reveals the tip of the tip of the tip of the iceberg – an introductory course on life. Core students are being taught how to fish.
In the Baines Report, Core alum Peter La Fountain writes on empathy and leadership, and discusses Jimmy Carter’s comments on the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act:
Difficult truths are hard to reconcile with the way we see our society. We want to be optimistic about ourselves, and we should be proud of the strides our country has made. We are an increasingly diverse and welcoming nation, one that has expanded opportunity and liberty, and we consciously strive to be an inspiration for the rest of the world. Yet even on our best days, we should see our nation as a work in progress. If we take a moment to remember the underserved, we may start to question our idling assumptions that the ship of state is doing all it can.
While the article focusses on the importance of retaining empathic priorities in policy-making, it also serves to remind those of us who feel we are passing a threshold, or leaving one period of our life to enter a new one… even on our best days, we are a work in progress.
Keep up the great work, and keep the fire blazing!
