First Day of School

Today is the first day of school on many college campuses around the nation. At the beginning of each semester I always seem to be a little more rejuvenated...and little more optimisitic...a little more giddy about the future. I believe the same thing goes for students. My hope is that for most college students, the beginning of the semester marks the beginning of chances. Chances to start anew...chances to make life altering decisions....chances to change the world. Do I believe that college students can change the world? Yes, I do...will all my heart.

For those of us that work with college students, we have a responsibility to the young minds and the optimisitic spirit...the sometimes daunting task of empowering those that believe in the goodness of humanity. We are in the business of helping others change the world.

I read the greatest book awhile back that I think is quit applicable today. The Impossible Will Take A Little While by Paul Loeb. Go...buy it...read it...and act. Only when we act do we have the chance to shape history.

In The Impossible Will Take a Little While, a phrase borrowed from Billie Holliday, the editor of Soul of a Citizen brings together fifty stories and essays that range across nations, eras, wars, and political movements. Danusha Goska, an Indiana activist with a paralyzing physical disability, writes about overcoming political immobilization, drawing on her history with the Peace Corps and Mother Teresa. Vaclav Havel, the former president of the Czech Republic, finds value in seemingly doomed or futile actions taken by oppressed peoples. Rosemarie Freeney Harding recalls the music that sustained the civil rights movement, and Paxus Calta-Star recounts the powerful vignette of an 18-year-old who launched the overthrow of Bulgaria's dictatorship. Many of the essays are new, others classic works that continue to inspire. Together, these writers explore a path of heartfelt community involvement that leads beyond despair to compassion and hope. The voices collected in The Impossible Will Take a Little While will help keep us all working for a better world despite the obstacles.