The irony in it all is especially striking to me. By the time I get to the point, about 500 words later, maybe you will see why.
This is my second run through English 1020, which focuses around the art of research writing. The reason I didn't make it through the first time, more than anything else, is because I could never settle down on a research topic. Oh, I had plenty of things I could have written on, should have written on, but I had a difficult time picking anything that I found sufficiently compelling. And, really... I didn't care.
I pondered my indecision on what to write on as I walked into the university library. Typically, for whatever reason, probably because these are the computers closest to where the books are, it is very difficult to find an available computer in the Ned McWherter library in the middle of your average school day. I came in aimlessly, initially intending to use the public phone near the government publications section and, finding it occupied, walked into the small bank of computers in said section. I didn't really expect to find one available.
Imagine my surprise when I found a computer, seemingly unoccupied, just sitting there on the login screen! Could it be? Had providence really smiled on me to the point that I found what I needed, just when I needed it and at exactly the right place?
As I approached the computer tentatively, I was greeted by the girl sitting opposite: "It doesn't work." She laughed and nodded as I suggested that perhaps she had watched several other people try and fail to log onto the computer.
The failures of others do not deter me when I intend on a course of action. Not even my own past ones.
I stood over the computer and went to work. After only a minute or two of trying, the girl commented again: "No one else really tried that hard..."
This only hardened my resolve. If no one else had taken more than a cursory look at the problem, it was probably, despite appearances, something relatively easy to solve.
The problem? A loose network cable. I pushed the cable into the socket completely and... Voila! I had a computer. People never cease to amaze me at their willingness to give up on something so easily.
Maybe I am oversimplifying. Maybe, while they stood there, trying to login, they noticed another computer open up nearby. Maybe they thought that it was against the rules to go jiggling cables on the back of school property... (Maybe it is. Bleh.) But if I had to guess, I would venture that they probably walked around the library looking or stood waiting for something else to open up for another 5 to 10 minutes, maybe more. Just a guess, but I think a good one.
This simple experience that I had is analogous to so many of the more significant problems that our society as a whole and people as individuals face on a daily basis. Apathy has been the enemy of good people throughout human history. It has damned up the river of potential that is humanity as instead of forging ahead, removing the obstacles, we let insignificant flotsam and jetsam caught on the banks halt our progression. Some of us even become our own beavers. For all the work we get done, we just damn up the river for everyone else.
As this realization coalesced while I checked my facebook and chatted with Mom, I suddenly had a research topic I can get behind. And I think that others will care about it, too. Something that, properly researched and set forth, will help others identify the barriers, both significant and trivial, and maybe... Just maybe, take action.
And the best part is, I have the successes and failures of all of our predecessors to act as my guide.
I am excited to start.
