Houston McLaury-

Welcome back Gusties from your respective breaks! I hope that no matter where you traveled to, no matter the distance and who you had to spend time with, you had a fantastic time nonetheless. As we come back to our dorms, we inch closer and closer to the end of the fall semester each day, and with that comes the most dreaded days of all: Finals. Where our wits and knowledge are tested on everything we’ve learned over the past fifteen weeks. And, in these last few weeks, I want to focus on a lesson that we all need to learn at some point or another: It’s okay to be wrong.

Now, why should we focus on learning this lesson when we only wish to strive for success, when being wrong and incorrect about things is the last thing we want? This is not about hoping to be incorrect, but rather, our response when we learn we are wrong about something. We can do one of two things: deny our incompetence, stick to our guns, and remain steadfast in the lack of knowledge we hold. Or, we can admit our faults, apologize for being wrong about something, and strive to do better. In our response, we build up our future selves as either ignorant to the truths of the world or becoming well versed in all kinds of knowledge. By accepting our mistakes, we can easily and quickly learn from them.

When advancing into Finals week, take the mistakes made in past lessons, discussions, and tests, and focus on them. Look at what needs to be worked on and focus on them to overcome the difficulties they present. By looking at our mistakes like difficulties with specific concepts in physics, lessons in a language one is unfamiliar with, or the names of each bone in the hand, we can become better at our respective fields of knowledge. Without looking back at our mistakes and admitting to them or at least acknowledging them, we do not become better people. So, forge forward into the week with a mirror, examining the mistakes made in the past to better inform yourself of the tasks ahead of you.

This ideal should extend beyond the academic world and bleed into life as well. We will make mistakes in our personal lives as well, and without proper remedy, they can fester and boil over. So, while it is important to admit to our mistakes, that is not the only step that needs to be taken. We must strive to do, to act, to be better in the future after our mistakes. If we are not at least trying to be better, then we aren’t. Strive for better and work towards it! It will be a lot of work, and know that if you are a better person than you were yesterday, something is working. We will go through great periods of change in our lives where we will control very little. With what little control we have, we can be the best people we can be for the people around us, for this world, and for those who will inherit it. So, please never stop striving to be better, never stop putting sand in that torn sack, and never let the weight of the world drag you down, Sisyphus. We must be better.

This idea is important to me simply because it took me a while to come to terms with it in middle school. The naivety of childhood stuck with me, and I quickly fell off of many activities I should have stuck with, simply because I didn’t want to confront the mistakes I made while doing them. It shut me out from many opportunities I should have taken advantage of. But, through doing my best to learn from any mistakes I make, I can continue to strive to be a better person and a better student in any aspect of life.

By becoming okay with the mistakes we’ve made and more so from learning from them, we can all strive to be better. Whether that means in an academic sense in this approaching finals season or through our personal lives, being able to learn from our mistakes is the best lesson any person can take with them. Never stop striving in your academics and in your life to be a better person than you were the day before. If you do this, the world will be your oyster.