Brendan McGinn
Week 14 Integration
4/29/2022
			What It Means to be Brendan McGinn
	Recently, I had to write what my personal mission statement would be for a life well lived. I honestly had no idea where to start, but I had a general idea: I want to follow my passions in a way that uplifts humanity, both on large and small scales. My original attempt articulates this, but as I have reflected on my time in Moreau this semester, I can see more concrete examples of how I can do this. I understand that in my future I want to start a company that solves problems I believe in. I want to be able to use science to tackle climate change and internships or summer programs to help divert teenagers from violence in cities. But in order to get to these goals, I have to learn to take one step at a time.
	Living a good life requires direction. I always strive for perfection, as it gets me closer to my goals in life. Particularly at the beginning of the semester, I was obsessed with trying to ensure I was perfecting my craft, both academically and in the boxing ring. However, I was losing sight of how to truly get better, and instead, just blaming myself when I failed. I eventually learned to think to myself differently and get better results ("The Right Way to be Introspective (Yes There's a Wrong Way)" by Tasha Eurich - Moreau FYE Week 6). Just asking “what” was going wrong wasn’t enough, I needed to know “why”. I learned that I was rushing through my days, trying to be too perfect rather than being appreciative of the life I was living. When I looked at Pico Iyer's TedTalk, I realized that maybe taking a day to reset and appreciate what I have accomplished is not such a bad thing("Why We Need to Slow Down our LIves" by Pico Iyer - Moreau FYE Week 1). I saw things more clearly after that, and realized that experiences are just as important as grades in reaching my potential. I made a goal to myself that I will never get too caught up in life that I will lose sight of myself and lose my purpose for menial things. 
	When I learned to examine myself more, I originally saw that not everything I did was a major event. I am just one man, one college student. This was around the same time I was fundraising for the boxing club. For a while, I questioned what the point was, what could my measly five hundred dollars raised really contribute to this cause. Watching the Hesburgh movie changed this, though. Father Ted exemplifies how a simple man consumed by passion can make all the difference in the world ("Hesburgh" by Jerry Barca and Christine O’Malley - Moreau FYE Week 2). To me, this means my goals are still worthwhile. Though they may be lofty, I truly believe in them and foster a passion necessary for success. Therefore, I will never see myself as too small to make a meaningful change in this world.
	After the first few weeks into the semester, I was starting to feel settled in. I was performing well in school and socially, and had an outline of my future. However, I was not pushing myself, since any real greatness would come after I graduated. I was comfortable not pushing myself. Then, I read about a nun who focused on death ("Meet the Nun who wants you to remember that you will die" by Ruth Graham - Moreau FYE Week 3). It was definitely a shock to my system, but totally necessary. I decided that I would push myself to greatness at that moment. For me, that meant throwing myself into boxing. I may have been a novice, but I worked to become a champion. When I lost, it definitely stung. But being aware of my possible death at any time, I appreciated knowing what it was like to crave and work for victory, and even the humbleness of defeat. I decided that I would apply this to what I had learned before. In order to make the meaningful change, I would have to take a step back and see if I was being not only hyper-critical, but also complacent. 
	As I was beginning to get a sense of who I was and who I wanted to be, I started to talk to some of my senior friends. They all had struggled with similar questions when they were in my position. Now, though, they were getting ready to pursue their careers and make a life for themselves. I have always known the field I am interested in, but never any specific about what, where, or when. I had a lot of options and no general direction, until I started to ask questions of myself ("Navigating Your Career Path" by MFCCD - Moreau FYE Week 4). In a conversation with my father over this issue, he told me to think on what I liked about school, which has always been the relationships  ("Discernment Conversation Activity" - Moreau FYE Week 5). I decided to try to reach out to some older friends with experience in different fields, bui I realized that only I can tell what I want, so I needed to examine myself a little more. I understand that this is an ongoing process where I have to experience a myriad of different options. However, in that moment, I made a promise to myself that I will never lie to myself about what I want. I will explore and try new things until I get to my eventual goal, if that is still my goal down the road. 
	At the end of my first few weeks back at Notre Dame, I had my set of friends pretty set. I had the guys in my section of O’Neill that I spent most of my time with. I didn’t really feel the need to branch out. However, they are all fairly similar to me, so I was just continuing living the same way I always had. I was not learning about new people. I decided I would branch out to someone in my dorm that was pretty quiet and did not want to hang out with many people. It was definitely difficult at first, since conversations often were pretty one sided and slightly awkward. There were some points where I felt like he really did not want to be my friend. But by pushing through these moments, we got to be really great friends ("Tattoos on the Heart" by Father Boyle  - Moreau FYE Week 7). As we got closer, he opened up a little more. I learned how it had been difficult for him as one of the very few African-Americans in his small high school, and how even in the dorm, he felt like an outsider  ("Why It Is So Hard To Talk To White People About Racism"
 by Dr. Robin DeAngelo  - Moreau FYE Week 10) At that moment, I really was not sure what to do or say. I went to a rather large high school, but now that I look back at it, our diversity was definitely lacking. It was never something that had crossed my mind, but I could see how that could be incredibly difficult. I decided I would help my new friend by simply being there and doing what I could. I understood I would never truly understand his situation, but anytime he wanted to talk about it, I would be there to accompany him by trying to empathize and listen ("Teaching Accompaniment: A Learning Journey Together"- by Steve Reifenberg  - Moreau FYE Week 9). I learned it was important in my life to seek new relationships and perspectives, as well as support anyone I meet in all types of struggles they could be facing. I will always embrace my responsibility to help all those I can, and accompany them through their struggles.
	As I started to broaden my horizons, I heard from a multitude of people. Mostly. All of my friends agreed on things, but there was one thing that people just could not agree on. That one thing was the role of religion in their lives. Personally, I had lived in a Catholic household for all my life, so religion has always played a massive role in my life. All my life, I had heard how important religion needs to be in my life. Then, through the first semester, I mostly really knew people that also were solid in their faith. In the second semester, though, I learned a few friends did not share my same beliefs. To my surprise, they were not different, like everyone had always told me they would be. In fact, I had no idea they did not believe the same things for several months. It shattered the little echo-chamber I had been stuck in for my entire life (“How to Avoid an Echo Chamber” - by Dr. Paul Blasco  - Moreau FYE Week 11). I learned that this fundamental difference between us does not make us fundamentally different. From that point forward, I know I need to be a little more courageous in expanding my circle. I decided to go to clubs that could help me further perspective, like CS for good. Through this club, I could both follow my passion and learn about people in the South Bend area I may not previously have wanted to meet.I came to Notre Dame because I thought it would be comfortable, since it was an Irish-Catholic school, which I have been used to for most of my life. Luckily for me, it is way more than that. As I consciously expand my circle, I grow my courage to meet, learn, and act ("I am George Floyd. Except, I can breathe. And I can do something.”-by Marcus Cole  - Moreau FYE Week 12). In my life, I will strive to break out of narrow viewpoints and meet as many different and unique people as time allows. 
	The semester seemed to have come and gone, and I experienced a great many things. I was challenged academically for one of the first times of my life, I trained for victory in Bengal Bouts (though I ultimately came short), I met hoards of new people, and I got to think of what is next for my life. These experiences and lessons were a lot to digest. I really did not know what to make of them or if they were going to affect my life at all. I was ready to just keep living without a real plan, but I was told to write a mission statement. I used this mission statement as a way to write what living my best possible life meant (University of Notre Dame Mission Statement  - Moreau FYE Week 13). I learned that in my life, there were a few promises that I could not break. I will be introspective, I will be passionate and confident in myself, I will be ambitious, I will be adventurous, I will be open-minded, and, most importantly, I will strive to serve others. This is the foundation of my mission. I believe my faith will hold me accountable and my family will help me when I fall. Through these attributes, I hope to live what I believe to be my dream of creating a company and helping humanity with it. The next three years at Notre Dame will make all the difference in the world. With my remaining time at this university, I hope to entrench myself in these goals. By being introspective, I will be able to navigate difficult courses without losing myself in the stress or failure. I will be able to focus on what is important, such as faith and family, instead of ignoring them for simple grades. By being passionate and confident, I hope to be able to raise the ranks in certain clubs, such as Bengal Bouts and CS for Good, so I can help younger students learn they can be a part of the change, just as the current seniors have taught me. By being ambitious, I will challenge myself to become the best version of myself as a friend, student, and person. I can do this by taking difficult tasks, or leaving my comfort zone to meet new people. By being adventurous, I will find what I love in life. I can do this by finding internships in fields or places I would have written off and studying abroad. Maybe one of these places or careers will feel like home to me, but I can never know until I try it. By being open-minded, I will have gained more perspective, which will make me a more complete human being. I plan to attend different cultural clubs each semester I am at Notre Dame, so I can open my ears and eyes to as many different people as possible. Lastly, by serving others, I will find my place in the world and with God. Hopefully, all my actions I take at Notre Dame will serve others. Whether it's reaching out to them when they are suffering, leading them in a club, or even just being an example of how to branch out, I want to serve. By the time I graduate, I want to be looked at as someone who wants to help and someone to go to. This requires helping and listening to one person at a time, but through patience I will meet my goal. If I can live as I outlined, through God and my family, to achieve my goals, I will have lived a good life.