Words as a Balm
In this Issue:
- Pre-Law Program
- As we lead up to finals, a few ways to find words as a comfort
Busy day for me today, so just two topics. The first: is your Deac wondering if they might want to be a lawyer? If so, we have a great summer pre-law exploratory program. The second: I am a nerdy English major type and T.S. Eliot once wrote “April is the cruelest month” – so as the stress of finals approaches, some musings on words as a source of comfort.
Use what serves you, skip what doesn’t, as always 🙂
Pre-Law Program
If your undergraduate student is looking for a summer opportunity, Wake Forest Law’s Undergraduate Pre-Law Program is the perfect fit. Over the course of the five-week program, students will gain a better understanding of the law, learn what it takes to be a lawyer, and get a glimpse into life as a law student. The Program is open to all Wake Forest University undergraduate students and undergraduate students in good standing at other accredited institutions.
To learn more, visit the Pre-Law website.
As we lead up to finals, a few ways to find words as a comfort
If your students – or you! – are fans of Harry Potter, you may recognize this pearl of wisdom shared by Dumbledore: “Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic. Capable of both inflicting injury, and remedying it.”
As the semester winds down, students can feel enormous pressure. And in these times, some comforting words might be in order. I am going to share two sources that I particularly love.
The first is the poem Desiderata by Max Ehrmann. This might help center – or recenter – students around the things that matter the most vs. the things that perhaps aren’t so critical.
Desiderata: Words for Life by Max Enhrmann
Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.
This is Water by David Foster Wallace
The second is David Foster Wallace’s 2005 Commencement speech “This Is Water.” It’s 22 minutes, but I would argue that it would be an outstanding exercise for all our students to put in their earbuds or headphones and take a stroll around our beautiful campus and listen to Foster Wallace’s message.
His main idea is that education gives you the capacity to choose what to think about. And we can choose to see things only through our own default filter, where we cling to things we are automatically sure of, without necessarily examining those beliefs or considering that we are not the center of the universe. On the other hand, we can can choose to think about things in other ways by adjusting our default filter; doing this might help us see the world, and see other people, with greater empathy, compassion, or understanding.
In times of trouble, or times of stress, I often come back to the words in Desiderata or This Is Water for grounding and recentering.
These words may help your Deac (or you!), or there may be other words that serve as a balm in trying times. Or they may have other favorites that provide that sense of magic and remedy injury, as Dumbledore said.
If your Deac doesn’t have a go-to grounding poem, piece of music, work of literature or art, etc., that may be a good thing to encourage them to think about over the summer.
And if you have special things you can say to your student as finals approach (e.g., “I love you!” “You got this!” etc.). Those words can be their own source of magic.