We celebrate our Women hostel day – We celebrate our being together – We celebrate our learning together. We say that hostel is a home away from home. But there is a little difference. At your parental home, you might be the center of focus. But here each of you is one of the many. Still each one of you is precious to us as we accompany you in your journey of education and formation.
We learn a lot in the hostel. First and foremost we learn constant adjustment in order to emerge strong with clarity:
- We imbibe the spirit of cooperative living and working. There are continuous adjustments with roommates, other hostel situations. we get accustomed to it and then we enjoy the atmosphere in the hostel.
- We learn organization: We get used to order and regulation in our daily routine. We follow common time table for food, classes etc.
- We discover an ideal study style: We find our friendly atmosphere even amidst non-conducive situation. We learn to live amidst noise pollution, lack of or too much of light around us. We learn to live with constant disturbances starting from room mates, peer pressure etc.
- We achieve academic excellence: At home, our parents are there to wake us up in the morning. Her, they are not around us constantly to remind us to come and eat. They are not checking whether you attend the classes or not. You are your own boss and you begin to realize that you learn to lead yourself towards success in life.
- Finally we realize our social responsibility: The Jesuit education is not given to you as an individual but for the society you come from and the society you are going to serve at the end of your studies.
(Cf. https://www.fastweb.com/student-life/articles/five-lessons-dorm-living-teaches-you)
I read the novel of Nicolas Sparks A Walk to remember, a few years ago: Landon and Jamie are college friends. What begins to be teammates in the theater society blossoms as love between then. They grow in appreciation of each other. Landon says: “You’re a wonderful person, Jamie. You’re beautiful, you’re kind, you’re gentle…you’re everything that I’d like to be. If people don’t like you, or they think you’re strange, then that’s their problem.” Our recognizing the best in others becomes the foundation of friendship that becomes companionship for life.
Landon comes to know that Jamie is suffering from advanced cancer. She had only a few weeks to go. He prays hard for her speedy and complete recovery but all in vain. Jamie dies. Landon asked God for a miracle but Jamie died too young and too early. Landon, tells Jamie’s father: I’m sorry she never got her miracle. But Jamie’s father responds, Landon, Jamie got her miracle. You are that miracle. Yes each true friend is a miracle for us who is there for us in joy and sorrow.
Landon remembers of Jamie always and he says: Jamie saved my life. She taught me everything. Above life, hope and the long journey ahead. I’ll always miss her. But our love is like the wind. I can’t see it, but I can feel it.
Just remember this, I repeat: Love is like the wind. You can’t see it but you can feel it. Because friendship endures forever.
You are also trying to decipher during your time of study and life in hostel what has life in store for you. The problem isn’t finding out where you are going to go – It’s figuring out what you are going to do once you get there.
I recommend 3Ms: Mapping – Making – Meshing, taken from T. Henry’s book Die Empty:
Mapping: What is your plan for life? – Plan well, make use of counseling and consultation available on campus – Have an idea that motivates you and that propels you as a dynamic force all through your life. If you fail to plan, you are actually planning to fail.
Making: It is the actual work – You have the choice: hard work or smart work – Choose smart work – Learn effective study methodology. Teachers would help you. Choose a mentor for life.
Meshing: No tree makes a forest and no person is an island – We are in the society – There is push and pull – We need to decide when to slide through the current and when to swim against the current. We need networking. You can start from your college, from your hostel – Friends are the constant factors in life. We say that light travels with a constant velocity. In life good friends not only stay with us and enlighten our way, they accompany us through thick and thin.
What you learn and acquire as meaningful values, during a period of 2 to 3 years in the hostel, you live out all through your life. That is the impact of the college as well as the influence of the hostel. Make use of every opportunity you have in the hostel to be a formed person who would live for the good of others.
All the best for the hostel day. Have a wonderful and enjoyable evening.
Francis P Xavier SJ
01 Mar 2020