Musings on College and Life (Raquel)
April 26, 2007 by sharppointythings
If I’d gone to college I’d probably be starting my fourth year this fall. That’s rather an odd reflection. I could be most of the way to a degree. I can’t say I regret my decision, but it does sound so nice to be close to finishing something. I’d have something to show for the last few years of my life. Something that says I really did accomplish something. Something that says I’ve completed a stage of my life.
As it is, the next time I’ve completed a stage of life, I’ll have a ring on my finger, and I don’t seem any closer to that than I was three years ago.
I’m not usually the one yearning for social approval. If I believe in what I’m doing, well then, everyone else is just wrong, and they’ll have to deal with their consequences while I deal with my own life. I could be a firebrand revolutionary without a qualm. But right now I’d like to have to something I can point to that shows all those normal people out there that yes, I really am doing something worthwhile.
I could tell you about my course load right now: Friendship 201, (very, very) Basic Photography, a review of Pre-Calculus and Practical Sewing Skills Upgrade for starters. There’s a remedial Anti-Procrastination course I keep flunking out of… 
It’s a subset of an ongoing Time Management class. Then there’s How to Constantly Feel Like an Idiot and Still Keep Trying in 3 Painfully Difficult Steps. I think that must be extracurricular, because it’s a thread that runs through everything else. It doesn’t sound that impressive does it?
There are other bits and pieces that don’t even qualify to get on my faux curriculum, because they just pop up and they’re gone. It’s just life it keeps happening whether I can qualify and quantify it or not. Sometimes I look at college a little wistfully because it would have worked my brain a little harder and challenged my soul a lot less, and both of those sound very pleasant. But I look at those bits and pieces and I know this is where I want to be.
I never would have had the courage to choose this path if I’d known what I would have to go through. If I knew what was coming in the rest of my life I’d probably chicken out now. But I’m glad that I’ve learned what I’ve learned. I’m glad that God will bring me safely through whatever happens next. I’m glad that I don’t have to depend on the opinion of the general populace to make my desicions in life.
I’m also glad that even though I don’t have any big milestones coming up, there are some things in my life I can count as having finished. The book Gabrielle loaned me last week. A crocheting project that’s been hanging around for months. And sometimes, even a blog post.
>As it is, the next time I’ve completed a stage of life, I’ll have a ring on my finger…
This is not true. There are always life changes, just waiting to happen; milestones, waiting to be passed. And, honestly, sometimes you don’t see them until they’ve already passed by.
College is a pretty overrated milestone. Perhaps your experience would be better than mine, but most of the learning I’ve done has come outside of a classroom. As for my in-the-classroom learning, I can now tell you oh so many worthwhile things about feminism, Marxism, and perversion (oops, meant psychoanalysis). I mark this most glorious milestone of mine known as a college education by proudly displaying my diploma underneath a stack of manilla envelopes in a dresser, I think.
College is a pretty overrated milestone, although I’m not sure why you’d want to measure your life in “milestones” in the first place. The only “stone” worth basing your life upon is Jesus and how well one is seeking to live for Him. You seem to be endeavoring to please Him, so really you’re doing well at what’s most important. It might not feel that way at times, but feelings are misleading.
It takes a lot of courage to pursue a course in life that the world will mock you for rather than pursuing what the world foolishly deems as normal. God will bless your efforts as long as you are laboring for Him. I hope that more and more you will find joy in the little victories of this life that draw you closer to the milestone of hearing, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Finally, while I’m at it, here’s a little more wisdom for you to take to heart. As I just found out a little bit ago tonight, drinking a beer immediately after brushing one’s teeth is a really bad taste experience. Hmm…of all the things I “learned” at college, how did I not learn this until tonight?