Page 21 - ADU Voice Volume 4 Issue 2

Spring 2025 | Voice 20

A great burden rests upon the little moments, All that survives is the embrace of it along with
the small ones assumed to be insignificant. the right kind of people instead of resisting it.
Academics are nothing but one part of our co- It is not merely a building; it is where we find
habitation; coffee-fueled late-night cramming our kind, our second family, and the people who
is an altogether different act, a place where make every sacrifice worthwhile.
our vulnerabilities come forth and the very
essence of who we are rises. We remember our This family that I have formed here, who
dreams and fears, those we lost, and those we supported me through the bedlam, who laughed
aspire to grasp amongst the ocean of stars. The away exhaustion, who shared stress with
things we fantasized about in those whispered resilience, those who put their time on this
conversations over the dust-covered pages of our journey, binding themselves with other souls they
textbooks; sketches and whirring laptops became forever did not expect to intertwine with. Yes, I
the most powerful foundation upon which we have sacrificed most of my time in university
would build our dreams together. This illustrates and yes, I am willing to do so until the very end;
that despite whatever may be happening around but, in return, I have gained something far more
us, however arduous and demanding times may valuable than I could have ever imagined, a
be, we remain tied to those connections. kindship. Sewn with memories, with emotions,
and with the unsaid understanding that wherever
It can be very easy to view this place as one that any of us go from here, this journey has knitted
drains and demands too much of us while giving us forever.
us back too little. Perhaps that is true in some
ways. But if we could just spare a moment to
let ourselves accept the emotional side of this
experience, then it becomes less a burden and
more a metamorphosis. The belief is that we
enter as individuals but exit as a network of
people that shape us as much as we shape them.

University is not the destructor itself. It is not
the culprit that steals our gift of time, trust, and
energy. If anything, it deserves to be called a
growth accelerator: it stretches us to limits,
puts us to the test, and thus makes way for the
emergence of stronger and wiser beings. The
burden of deadlines, the pressure of exams,
the tiredness from all-nighters, and so on are
all mere key milestones in this greater scheme
preparing us for life beyond these walls.