April is a busy month for our campus. With SOHOP, Alumni Weekend and Homecoming last week, Spring Fair this week and Relay for Life next week, April is one month where Hopkins students might have an excuse to stay “within the bubble” since so many things are going on. The last day of April is also the last day of classes. Between busy and bustling weekends, we’re in class finishing up those last few midterms (that aren’t in the middle of the term) and rushing through the remainder of the course material left on the syllabus. Let’s think about what April means.
The last day of April is also the last day of classes. Between busy and bustling weekends, we’re in class finishing up those last few midterms (that aren’t in the middle of the term) and rushing through the remainder of the course material left on the syllabus. Let’s think about what April means.
Amidst all the activities, we can find ourselves losing track of time. Caught up in social activities and the daily grind, it is easy to fall into the illusion that we are busy. We feel busy, we think we don’t have enough minutes in the day, we look around and find people who are likewise busy. This illusion is dangerous. It distracts us from the little signals that draw our attention to things that matter to us: our friends, our interests, our activities. There are some things in our life that depend on us. The world doesn’t stop just because it’s April. It keeps turning without waiting for us.
Remember the friends who make up our community. It is already difficult to be present for others on a day-to-day basis, much less amidst the noise from the Spring Fair concert and the hubbub on the quad. To those of us busy with our activities, busy hosting an admitted student, busy volunteering for Homecoming, those around us who seem less busy might seem less deserving of our attention. Some part of us might even lapse into selfish judgement: I’m doing all these meaningful things with my life, what are you doing? This is dangerous and hurtful. Those who aren’t connected with these networks of opportunity might well be the people who need us the most, both as a listener and as an enabler to connect them with things they might find meaningful. Let us not forget those around us, including those who are not busy.
Remember the ideas that are young plants just starting out. Perhaps March coincided with the launch of an exciting new project in your student organization. Maybe an office hour appointment with a professor uncovered an intriguing new angle that you’d like to explore through an independent study. These ideas are nascent and need to be nurtured lest they fade. Our community is one built on the strength and vibrancy of ideas. Our institution’s themes of exploration and discovery are innately connected to our ability not to just generate ideas but turn them to something tangible and impactful. Teams we work on, groups we lead and communities we share all depend on ideas to move forward. We cannot afford to all take a break from creating and supporting these ideas because we are too caught up with something else. Let us not forget the beauty and importance of ideas.
Remember the promise of the future which is built on the dreams of today. The business makes it easy for us to procrastinate, to push work off until a future, undetermined, point. Perhaps in our desire to make SOHOP the best for our admitted student, we put off studying for an exam we have on Thursday. Perhaps in order to get out to Spring Fair, we push aside an application for a student group we really want to join. We are unlikely to be able to make long-term decisions in our tired and exhausted states, let alone the student organizers who are dedicating hours of their time to planning and executing these projects. But there will never be another today in which to write the story of tomorrow. Let us not forget that amidst our other activities, we are still walking down and writing the chapters of life.
April is a busy month on our campus. This is not saying that we should not participate in everything this campus has to offer. Everyone should be involved, should be plugged in and should share in the common experience of April on campus. The point of this piece goes beyond binaries. It’s not a choice to be involved or to not be involved. Rather, it’s a challenge to think of the cost of involvement and what we leave behind. These are the thoughts and conversations that help us achieve balance in our lives and help us to live with decisions like doing poorly on tomorrow’s midterm in order to do something special for someone who needs moral support tonight. April is not the only busy month on our campus. Let us think about what being busy means.
Tommy Koh is a sophomore political science major from
Singapore.
Correction: The byline previously stated the wrong class year for Koh.
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