David Burke dburke@media.ucla.edu
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Every year, college students receive an enormous gift. The gift
is more precious than money or a new car or even straight
A’s. Once students graduate, they will probably not have
another gift like it for 40 or 50 years.
Unfortunately, many people don’t recognize that it is a
gift, and they run the risk of squandering it. With this article, I
hope to awaken people and help them recognize their gift. The gift
that I am writing about is summer.
When most people think of summer, they think of heat, bathing
suits and TV reruns. When I think of summer, I think of
opportunities and choices. Every student has to choose between two
very different options. The first option for students is to
continue down their path of education and direct preparation for
“the real world.” I call this path “the practical
summer.”
During the school year, students are taking classes and possibly
working or holding an internship in order to prepare themselves for
getting a full-time job after college or for graduate school.
Summer is an opportunity to continue down that path. It is a chance
to pad your resume with an internship or a job. It might be a
chance to take summer school classes and lighten your load during
the school year or graduate earlier than you normally would. A job,
an internship or summer school are the paths that most students do
take during their summer, and there’s no problem with that,
per se.
Although the path of “the practical summer” has its
merits, I think there is another way to enjoy this time that might
be more meaningful and enjoyable.
Henry David Thoreau once wrote that, “most men, even in
this comparatively free country, through mere ignorance and
mistake, are so occupied with the factitious cares and
superfluously coarse labors of life that its finer fruits cannot be
plucked by them.” Unfortunately, I think that many people who
choose to pursue the practical summer are occupying themselves with
these factitious cares. “The divine summer” is a chance
to escape from those cares and pluck the finer fruits of life. By
pursuing new experiences and expanding knowledge in areas you care
about, you can approach divinity. The finer fruits of life, of
course, mean different things for different people. But there are
some activities that I think access those finer fruits better than
others. Exploring nature or exploring other parts of the world are
great ways to enjoy “the divine summer.” They are
especially apt for UCLA students who are immersed in a college
pseudo-culture of its own that is centered in a sprawling and
bustling megalopolis.
Watching television or “getting buff,” on the other
hand, are not the best ways to pluck the finer fruits of life.
Going camping, fishing, or taking hikes through the local mountains
and forests are activities that Thoreau would look kindly upon.
Another way to enjoy “the divine summer” is through
reading, perhaps the most widely underrated recreational activity
(competing with playing video games and watching sitcoms, some of
the most overrated). I agree with Thoreau that for everyone,
“the book exists for us perchance which will explain our
miracles and reveal new ones.” “The divine
summer” is an opportunity to discover these types of books
and immerse yourself in them. You can expand your knowledge in any
area of interest or any area of study.
“The divine summer” does not have to be solely
intellectual and lofty. It should be fun too. Thoreau once wrote of
slavery that, “there are so many keen and subtle masters
“¦ worst of all when you are slave-driver of yourself.”
“The divine summer” is a chance to do just the
opposite. Instead of being your own slave-driver you can be the
beach-going, basketball-playing, barbeque-attending, trip-taking
and friend-visiting fun-driver of yourself.
Summer’s most attractive benefit is its freedom. It gives
you a chance to exclusively spend time doing the things that you
never had time to do during school. Once you graduate and get a
job, summers won’t be the same until you retire, so you
should enjoy this time while you can. This is probably the last
time in our young lives that we can bask in the choice between
these two summers. In “the real world,” the choice is
already made for us.
“The practical summer” may indeed be more practical,
but if you can, I think you should give at least some aspects of
divinity a try; it can be infinitely more memorable and meaningful
than a six-week class or a mediocre job.