The Mission and (Intended) Life of Mission Statement (Writing a Personal Mission Statement – Moreau FYE Week Thirteen): I am called primarily to love through my life. Loving means putting the interests of others before my own interests in my thoughts and actions. I must love everyone in my life, although this does not mean stooping to what they always want. If I am to truly love, then I must be willing to give them what they need to be the best version of themselves. This entails treating people with dignity, being willing to help when necessary, and sacrificing my desires when they conflict with others’ needs. I am called to use my gifts to maximize my ability to love. The three most valuable gifts I have are understanding, wealth, and intelligence. I have been blessed with understanding. I must make an honest attempt to truly understand the perspectives of those I disagree with to avoid demonizing them. In a similar light, I must pursue the truth in my life. Seeking the truth allows me to live my life more fully because it will be oriented toward reality. I was born into a wealthy family, but I have not actually earned this wealth. Therefore, I must use these resources to serve those who have not been so lucky. I have been blessed with intelligence, so I must use this intelligence fully as a student. Capitalizing on my intelligence through the educational opportunities available to me makes me an example for others and will provide the resources and knowledge I need to serve others in deeper ways. When my interests allow me to love more fully, I must pursue them. In doing so I will serve my community. I must maintain my physical fitness both to love myself and to allow myself to love others more effectively and over a longer period of time. The ultimate act of love is to love God, who always has our best interests at heart. Simply, I must love God by keeping others’ best interests at heart. Living My Mission Statement: Loving others can take an infinite number of forms, depending on each individual situation. “So, I encourage all of us to just focus on what we can do for others or what we can do already instead of what we cannot do and what we do not have yet” (“Five Minutes” by Aria Swarr, Grotto - Moreau FYE Week Six). This could be as simple as sacrificing my time to help a classmate understand a difficult concept. It may also mean skipping class to comfort a friend who is struggling with grief or depression. However, these examples are quite simple and do not guide the bigger picture of my life. I possess three resources that allow me to uniquely love others. I am understanding, wealthy, and intelligent. I must go out of my way to devote these special personal resources to loving others as fully as possible to go above and beyond in my life of love. My hometown in Pennsylvania is very politically diverse. Additionally, I spend time with many people with different religious beliefs. This has given me the opportunity to develop my gift of understanding. While most people are set in their beliefs (even if they claim otherwise in my experience), I make a genuine attempt to weigh every side of a dispute. “We need to ask ourselves whether our picture of our opponents is accurate and well-thought-out or whether we might be trapped in the feedback loops characteristic of echo chambers” (“How to Avoid an Echo Chamber” by Dr. Paul Blaschko, ThinkND – Moreau FYE Week Eleven). This requires stepping outside of my perspective and looking at why my “opponents” see the world differently from myself. As Father Hesburgh said, “It was going nowhere. But I found one thing running through our conversations: that they all liked to fish” (“Hesburgh” produced by Jerry Barca and Christine O'Malley - Moreau FYE Week Two). As I try to understand other perspectives, I will avoid demonizing others and develop unity and respect on a human level which will lead to progress. This practice stems from a desire to pursue the truth. I believe that there is objective truth in every aspect of life, but I must avoid assuming I know it. I would compare truth to a ruler shrouded in fog. While there is an objective measure of truth because the ruler is 12 inches for everyone, we all struggle to perceive this because of the fog of our perspectives. Similarly, “It’s only by stepping farther back and standing still that we can begin to see what that canvas (which is our life) really means, and to take in the larger picture” (“Why we need to slow down our lives” by Pico Iyer, TED - Moreau FYE Week One). I must remember this to enhance my understanding because I cannot assume that I know this truth. By striving to know the truth outside of the assumption that my perspective is right I will hopefully grow closer to knowing it and thus love others by enacting it in my life. I was born into a wealthy family, although I have done nothing special to earn or deserve this. I can very easily thank God for my good fortune and live a life of luxury. After all, isn’t that what anyone else would do in my position? However, I believe that this is selfish because I have not earned this. Therefore, I must use my wealth to serve those who are not wealthy. I have done this in the past by volunteering at community gardens, in inner city areas, and with refugees. The Congregation of the Holy Cross echoes my own sentiments, stating “We stand with the poor and the afflicted because only from there can we appeal as Jesus did for the conversion and the deliverance of all” (“Constitutions of the Congregation of Holy Cross” 2: Mission, paragraphs 9-14 – Moreau FYE Week Twelve). At Notre Dame, I do this by volunteering with Mercy Works at the DePaul Academy, a center for teenage boys who have struggled with delinquency. Many would otherwise be in corrective programs, and most have not consistently attended school because of their poor home lives. “But the future is, most of all, in the hands of those people who recognize the other as a “you” and themselves as part of an “us.” We all need each other” (“Chapter 8: Jurisdiction” by Father Greg Boyle, S.J., Tattoos on the Heart – Moreau FYE Week Seven). Connecting with people who had such different upbringings allows me to recognize the person under these sometimes-intimidating façades and reach the level of connection that Father Greg Boyle describes. In the future, I intend to continue volunteering in whatever local communities are most in need. My intelligence is my final unique resource. Intelligence can easily be used for my own self-gain, and to some extent I intend to do this. However, I believe that intelligence should not be used exclusively in this capacity. I am a student at the University of Notre Dame because of my intelligence. Right now, I must love myself by fully using this intelligence to succeed in my studies. In doing so, I will build up my capacity to love others by maximizing my resources, both money and position, after Notre Dame. Alongside my intelligence is the belief that I should pursue my interests if it benefits my community. This belief comes directly from Father Michael Himes’s criteria for choosing a career path. “1. Is this a source of joy? 2. Is this something that taps into your talents and gifts—engages all of your abilities—and uses them in the fullest way possible? 3. Is this role a genuine service to the people around you, to society at large?” (“Three Key Questions” adapted from Fr. Michael Himes - Moreau FYE Week Three). I have two primary interests that fit these criteria: my love for foreign languages and my interest in international relations. I am currently studying Russian language at Notre Dame (using my wealth and my intelligence, to connect to previous ideas). I will also begin pursuing a Global Affairs major next semester. These courses will equip me for the world of diplomacy, my current career path. Language allows me to bridge cultural divides, a skill which is a source of joy, taps into my talents and gifts, and provides a genuine service to society. Additionally, studying international relations through my Global Affairs major meets these same criteria. Pursuing a diplomatic career is a great career choice because, “The idea is that the best career choices for a person are those that allow him/her to implement as many parts of his/her self-concept as possible” (“Navigating Your Career Journey” Meruelo Family Center for Career Development – Moreau FYE Week Four). At the same time, “The process of discernment is an ongoing, lifelong endeavor” (“Week Five Discernment Conversation Activity” - Moreau FYE Week Five). I must remain open to different careers that better fit these criteria, but for now I should continue pursuing diplomacy. I believe that physical fitness is essential to loving myself and others. This means exercising. I must be physically strong enough to manually serve when necessary, and this also promises to increase my lifespan and thus allow me to serve in the ways previously mentioned for a longer time. I do this now by running and lifting, although I need to do these things more regularly in the future. I should develop a routine in every stage of my life that accommodates exercise. In Mark 12:30-31, Jesus says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Jacob Walsh elaborates on this, writing, “Jesus sought out and welcomed all people into the Kingdom of God — the gentile as well as the Jew, women as well as men, the poor as well as the wealthy, the slave as well as the free, the infirm as well as the healthy” (“Growing up Gay and Catholic” by Jacob Walsh, Grotto – Moreau FYE Week Ten). I believe that the ultimate act of love is to love God through others. My Catholic faith is the single most influential factor developing my mission statement. I must actively live Catholicism to love God and others, my neighbors, by pursuing the truth with the gift of understanding, using my wealth to serve, taking advantage of my intelligence and my interests to serve in unique, higher ways, and maintaining physical fitness to maximize the length of time that I can love others. “The other risk is believing that things can never change for the better, an attitude nearly certain to be a self-fulfilling prophecy” (“Teaching Accompaniment: A Learning Journey Together” by Professor Steve Reifenberg – Moreau FYE Week Nine). I will live this hope as I seek to spread love in a world that needs it. When I finally die, whenever that may be, I hope that I will be as happy as I currently am, as described in my eulogy: “Indeed, he lived a fulfilling life filled with service and centered around faith” (“Defining a Life Well-Lived – Moreau FYE Week Eight).