N A LITTLE MORE THAN A MONTH THE ACADEMY I ATTENDED WILL BEhosting its annual alumni weekend. One of the honored years is mine.
I can close my eyes and still smell the mixing scents of perfume as my roommates and I prepared for church. I can feel the cold dough kneading between my fingers as I worked the twisting line at a local factory—the place where the kids who needed the most money for tuition worked. I can still taste the Doritos and hot chocolate I had during a late-night Christmas party in the dormitory. And I can still feel the goodbye hugs of friends as we anxiously pressed together before parting ways at the close of graduation weekend.
My last graduate class at Johns Hopkins University was entitled “Notions of Progress.” The professor wanted us to contemplate the idea of progress: Are we on a straight path to somewhere, or are we pushing through cycles—circle after circle—destined to basically repeat history in perpetuity? Ideas sprung from that class are in mind now as I remember bygone days.
The nostalgia I feel isn’t mine alone. Graduates from 50 years ago must still savor bittersweet memories; no doubt last year’s graduates reminisce too.
And I don’t think that the difficult patches are forgotten either. Other tokens of yesteryear: the burning cheeks when misunderstood or stood up; the embarrassment of a hairstyle gone wrong; the jarring realization that hypocrisy does exist.
So have we progressed? Or are we circling back? I like the consensus my class reached: We repeat certain things, certain experiences, but we are ever moving forward on a wheel of time—and there is a final destination.
With that in mind, may we ever pursue our heavenly destination, determined to skip the mistakes, especially with our precious youth.
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Kimberly Luste Maran is an assistant editor of the Adventist Review. This article was published April 8, 2010.
