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Sacrifice ~ Golden Wave

What we do and have done yesterday, today, and hereafter is not for waste. Although we are micro moments in an infinite continuum, our actions, even the small ones, have rippling effects on history. Time is a never-ending stream and we are the tributaries of it, contributing our wealth of stories and decisions to a grander tale that we have the pleasure of being featured in. Throughout high school you will be faced with a variety of choices ranging from academic to life decisions. Many will not seem important at all- but I promise they are. What you chose to do is ultimately dependent upon you, but there is a key word at the quintessence of every decision- a word called sacrifice. We make them all the time- for ourselves, for those whom we love, and even for those who we feel indifferent yet hope towards. We all have our own definition of the word. I use to think that sacrifice could be about letting go a certain lifestyle, leaving behind gifts and abilities to achieve something greater for myself in order to prove my ideals to the world. That belief was wrong. The best way for me to communicate this moral is in the form of a story. On the eve of May 1st, amomentous night for seniors across the country to decide their college of choice, I was facedwith a few options. I could run and decide not to go to college. I could fight it and choose to goto a cheaper school closer to home and friends. Finally, I could submit and go to an excellentschool where I was guaranteed a good education at the cost of being far from home, friends, andwhat I knew best. I spent my whole life not wanting to follow in the deep and somber footstepsof my father. I wanted to be more, something greater than what society and my family intendedme to be. I was looking for ways to explore my creative interests in English and music to escapebecoming twisted and warped by the 1s and 0s that distort our society today. I wanted freedom. Iwanted a way out to escape my distaste of reality and my fear of it. I would believe so until one conversation with my father changed it all. At 10 PM he enters myroom where I was hopelessly lost in thought, trying to make a decision. Unexpectedly, he handsme a picture, the one seen below, of my great grandparents and other relatives. In tears he talkedabout the sacrifices each person had made so that the family and my father could have newopportunities they did not. The picture was now mine to keep and the weight of the world wasmine to carry. With watery eyes and awe in my heart I accepted the photograph from my fatherand all it had resembled. What could have been an enslaving moment turned out to be one of the most freeing moments ofmy life. For once, I could stop running from something that I was becoming and feel reassured inmy purpose and worth in life. For so long I was lurking and hiding in the shadows, running fromthe light because that was the easy option. Not going to college was the simple way out that I sodesperately wanted. But freedom is not gained through flight, it is obtain through fight. Facingthe sun in all its glory and radiance takes courage. It takes true tenacity to anchor down and fightthrough the storm as opposed to running away For so long I wanted to sacrifice for myself, but it has to be about the future, about others, andabout the children. That’s why I choose the third option, an excellent school and education toprovide my children with a better tomorrow. I am ready to anchor down and fight just like mygreat grandfather did. The children –those pure and chaste souls- are the future and it’s up to youand me to ensure we provide them with the foundation and opportunities to succeed. As ourancestors did for us, we must do for our descendants. In all that you do, my peers, always keepthe future in mind. The heroes and legends of days bygone did not sacrifice for themselves. They devoted their livesso that forthcoming generations could know a brighter dawn. Because sacrifice cannot be foryourself, it has to be for others entirely- and if it so happens to benefit you as well, then may it beserendipitous. Every trial, every tribulation now and hereafter is for them, the future generationand our children, to know a brighter dawn. Thank You, Father Ryan Burnett