My friend Lacey is finishing up a one-year Master’s program in Critical Theory. I am really terrible about keeping in touch with her, like I am with so many special friends unfortunately, so I often sneak a peak into her life via the blogsphere. She has an interesting, creative space on the Web called She Minds.
The blog’s title, “She Minds,” really sums up one of Lacey’s greatest qualities: She does mind. Lacey really cares about the world she encounters and the contribution she puts back into it, especially the contribution she makes through her brilliant thoughts and writings. In a world and generation where I so often hear apathetic expressions like, “Oh, it doesn’t matter,” and “I just don’t care,” her commitment to all the best in life is striking and refreshing.
As I read Lacey’s words online this evening, I was reminded of another friend’s wisdom about the importance of taking life seriously. At Santa Clara I belonged to a “Residential Learning Community” (SCU’s version of a residential college) that expoused five main pillars. One was “vocation.” Most college freshmen do not understand the complexities of this term (I sure didn’t) and it was the task of Fr. Rob Scholla SJ, our community faculty director, to explain the term to new students. He said something like this: “Vocation is about realizing that this is your life. It matters. You only get one. And the decisions you make, even the small ones, make up its precious content. So you should pay attention, and choose wisely. It does matter—you only get one life.”
This mindfulness pertains to examinations of our own lives, and the lives of others. I should mind when I’m simply not alright. When I am not okay; this is my life, and while perspective is important my state of being is too. I should do something about this. I should also mind that other people in the world endure incredibly difficult physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional circumstances. These are their precious lives. And I should do something about this, too. I should mind.
Do you mind?
