Upon
entering Ms. Seresnky’s room one morning, I habitually looked at her white
board to see whose words she had chosen to inspire us with that day. I always
thoroughly enjoy the quotes that she chooses however I could not contain my
excitement when I saw that she had written my favorite quote by J.R.R. Tolkien.
An obsessive fan of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, one can imagine my thrill
when the books’ author’s words stared at me from across the room. However, my
passion for his work does not solely account for my love for the quote. J.R.R. Tolkien
famously states that “Not all those who wander are lost”; a set of seven words
that I have always believed in, however in the midst of my senior year, feel
that they describe me, as well as my classmates, now more than ever. As the
class of 2013 entered junior year, we experienced the bombardment of questions
regarding our college choice and what we wish to study. As mere sixteen and
seventeen year olds we wondered how anyone could expect us to know the answers.
Now as we enter senior year, we begin to gain a sense of ourselves and what we
want to pursue, yet we still face indecision. We still wander, wondering how we
will decide between the infinite opportunities that college and life will
present us with, feeling stuck in an “undecided” rut. Tolkien believes that the
ability to search without knowledge of a definite end does not mean that we do
not have a sense of direction. To me, his quote means that my classmates and I
might not have any idea of what to do with our upcoming new lives, but that
does not mean that it will end in a frantic search for a way out of a journey
gone astray. However, the future that seemed light-years away now pounces on us
with the ferocity of an orc in battle as we all search for our place in the
scary world outside of high school. Similarly to Frodo leaving the Shire, we
must all leave Chagrin and go on our own journey. Wandering often leads us down
the right path if we allow the fear of becoming lost inspire us to push us into
the unknown.
I too, have faced the many pressures of applying to college and feeling bombarded with questions about my decision to go to art school. Just yesterday, however, an unnamed counselor stopped on the road to talk to me out the window about her opinions of my college choices. While I am not sure of my future occuptional plans, I feel confident that through hard work everything will most likely end well. Despite the modern day scolding of our generation as dependent and non-worldly, I find that when I want to experience independence, many do not trust in my ability to make my own life choices.
ReplyDeletePhew! First off, I am glad to know I am not the only Lord of the Rings fanatic in this school. Moreover, I find your post about the teenage exploration for self-discovery very relevant in the fast-paced, technology driven society of today. Far too many external influences seem to push that question: What path do you intend to follow? Well, I have not a clue and I take comfort in your sound logic that wandering does not always mean wandering aimlessly.
ReplyDelete