Bonny Harper, Campus Carrier Editor-in-Chief
I get lost all the time.
No, really. I do. I honestly have to use my GPS to get around in even my hometown, (Athens, Ga.).
I get lost driving around in Rome; I get lost trying to get out of extensive parking lots; shoot, I get lost walking through the Science Building (McAllister).
It’s. Terrible.
It’s one of those weaknesses I didn’t know I had until I started driving, my senior year of high school. Before then, I had no need to really know where I was, because other people took me everywhere I needed to go.
When I did finally start driving, though, my geographical inadequacy quickly reared its loathsome head, and, for those first few weeks, I had to have people draw me maps or write down very detailed directions before I would venture out the door. It was obnoxious, I felt high maintenance and oftentimes I still ended up in a parking lot somewhere, sobbing over my steering wheel and trying to get up the courage to call my dad to ask where I was again.
Needless to say, it was only a few weeks before I decided a GPS was an absolute necessity. Thus, I purchased my first GPS, affectionately named “Judy Garmin” by my roommate when I came to Berry that fall.
Suddenly, life was rendered so much easier. I walked out the door with confidence, and without having had a 10-minute conversation with someone about where I was going beforehand. I could even decide at the last minute to stop by a different place before I went home. It was such a life-altering experience, getting that GPS.
Ah, and here is where I enter into the topic you may have been expecting me to address, what with this being my last issue as Editor-in-Chief of The Carrier: yes, this is one of those sentimental, “goodbye, world” pieces. But I’m allowed! So don’t judge me.
See, entering into this next season of life—you know, The Great Unknown After Graduation (TGUAG) that I’ve mentioned in a couple of previous editorials this year—feels so very similar to how I used to feel, walking out the door to drive somewhere before I had a GPS. The past four years of education, both academic and practical, have been much like the detailed instructions I would demand of my parents or friends before I tried to go anywhere (and sometimes those talks felt as long as four years as well).
But despite all the instruction I’ve received, I’m now about to walk out this door with a great sense of trepidation, just like I used to. No matter how specific the details I’ve been given are, no one can walk with me, hold my hand and point out where my next turn is. This is something I’ve got to go alone—to put it melodramatically.
Yes, yes, everyone who graduates goes through this, I understand. But I still can’t help but feel it’s a little unfair. I mean, this is like expecting Frodo to succeed without Sam; it just sounds dubious. To put it lightly.
Side note: I could totally take that “Lord of the Rings” comparison way further, but I have chosen to spare you. It is Pity that now stays my hand. (Sorry, couldn’t resist one last Tolkien reference, in my last piece for The Carrier.)
The obvious answer to this intimidating dilemma of TGUAG must needs be the same answer that I found to my smaller-scale dilemma when I was first driving: I need a GPS. But what does that really mean, in the context of real life? “Global Positioning System” doesn’t seem to work.
I think, personally, the best way to determine where I’m going is to first determine how and when I’m finally going to be able to get my puppy.
Thus, for me, GPS now stands for “Get-Puppy Scheme.”
Think about it. If I first evaluate every decision I make henceforth by how quickly I will feasibly be able to own and care for a puppy, in my opinion, I will always be heading the right direction.
What does your GPS stand for? Whether it’s “Garner Parental Support,” “Gather Party Supplies” or “Go Poop Somewhere,” no matter what year you are in school, it’s time to prioritize.
Honestly, when you get right down to it, the hardest part is the wordsmithing (obviously G, P and S aren’t the easiest letters to work with). And if that’s it, then maybe TGUAG won’t be quite so scary after all.