Last Run

By Timothy Hollon

The first bell rang as Dalat Seniors filed into their A-Block classes, still chatting and laughing about everything they had done over Christmas break. Stories were told in dramatic fashion, old inside jokes were brought up once again, and countless red shirts were donned for one last run.

Then the second bell rang. And we Seniors returned to what we’ve been doing continuously for the last 14 years. School. Choir students once again went through their same warmups, Calculus students started working through their logarithms, and the Bible Students started with their usual questions and worked with their table groups. 

And school just went back to normal. Our last first day of school was just another day. Another day, we just went through the motions; another day, we sat through each class just trying to get to the next block, and another day we spent all of D-Block figuring out what to order for lunch.

It was normal. Yet, we can’t let this semester slip by. As fellow Senior Andy Tan put it, “I’m scared of wasting time and letting the last months of senior year slip by me, and ending up leaving school with regrets about things I should have done.” We cannot let regret take hold of us.

In an article published by the National Institute of Health, hospice nurses reported that the most common regret that dying patients have about their lives is not doing enough. Very few reported caring much for making a bad decision, only for not taking a risk they were too afraid to take. The human instinct is to let passivity overwhelm us. We’re inert by nature. However, especially this last semester, we can’t yield to the trend of doing what everyone else does. As cliche as it sounds, we’re all meant for more. 

So, Senior Class, I want to encourage you: take that risk you’ve been considering. Push yourself. Ensure that in thirty years you don’t look back on these next six months and say, “I wish I had done more.”

Do more, starting today.