Post-College

Somebody posted the article The Muscular Empathy by Ta-Nehisi Coates on facebook. It's an interesting read about how the natural reaction of modern man is to misjudge why people did not act in the face of such things as slavery and racism.

Read the following paragraph:
"This basic extension of empathy is one of the great barriers in understanding race in this country. I do not mean a soft, flattering, hand-holding empathy. I mean a muscular empathy rooted in curiosity. If you really want to understand slaves, slave masters, poor black kids, poor white kids, rich people of colors, whoever, it is essential that you first come to grips with the disturbing facts of your own mediocrity. The first rule is this--You are not extraordinary. It's all fine and good to declare that you would have freed your slaves. But it's much more interesting to assume that you wouldn't and then ask 'Why?' "


After reading that paragraph, I instantly wished that I would have the opportunity to go to class tomorrow to hear the discussion that would come of that last question. Funny thing, huh? To have gladly graduated last May only to find myself wishing that I had reading homework and mandatory class obligations only 7 months later. That wish probably manifested much sooner, but that wish hadn't hit me as hard as it did after reading that paragraph. 


Maybe it's time to looked a bit harder into graduate school. But then there's the whole new adult issue of wanting to pay off some of my student loans first before I take on more.  Oh, life post-college.