A New Semester Begins

Monday, January 18th, marked the end of winter break and the first day of the 2010, spring semester. While it is hard to think about packing up the Christmas decorations and putting some of the projects I worked on over break back on the shelf, it marks the start of another exciting journey. You may be anxious about starting the semester. Many of you may be nervous about taking a college level composition course. Know that you are probably not alone. My guess is that many of your classmates feel the same nervousness and anxiety.

I'd like you to think about the following passage. It is often misattributed to Nelson Mandela because he used it during his inaugural address, but it was actually written by the motivational writer and speaker Marianne Williamson, and appears in her book A Return to Love. Regardless of the source, the message is very powerful:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

Regardless of where your spiritual leanings are, the message here is clear: each of us possesses the strength, the intellect, the power to offer the world amazing things. It is our responsibility to work to our full capacity and to achieve all that we are able; when we do, others work to their top capability as well.

Together we will figure out how to become liberated from our fear. I am excited to work with each of you this semester.