One thing I can definitely say that I’ve learned through college — and a great liberal arts education — is to think logically. This is such an invaluable tool when doing almost anything. I find myself using logical thinking to analyze themes in Spanish literature, when discussing ideas with friends, when determining how dumb people sound on Facebook/Twitter, etc. And through my logical analyses, I’ve learned that many people do not possess this very strategic tool.
Many people have barriers on their thoughts that do not allow them to breach the perimeters of their thought processes and consider/learn about things that didn’t know they didn’t know. Does this make any sense? I’ll elaborate shortly.
Part of thinking logically comes from broadening the scope of one’s vision. This includes, as I stated previously, learning things that you may not have known. I mean seeking knowledge about foreign cultures, languages, economics, world affairs, other disciplines that may not have seemed interesting in high school or college and things of the like. The quest to be learned never stops, at least for the person who knows how much this can benefit him/her.
Being from an impoverished and misunderstood place such as Mississippi motivates me even more. It motivates me to live, experience, seek and dip my toes in waters that exist in different places of the world. Being insatiable in terms such as these can be rewarding, as well as exciting.
Life is short. I know this is a cliché, trite expression, but it really is devastatingly true. Going through the motions in life isn’t rewarding or meaningful. A lot of life involves unconscious thinking, but what about the parts that do not? Big life decisions require logical, conscious thinking. Should you go to grad school in Chicago? Should you move and take that internship in San Francisco?
It’s perfectly fine to try something new and fail. Failing conditions us to be resilient and ambitious.
As J.K. Rowling stated during her 2008 Harvard commencement speech, “It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.”
Life really is what we make it. We are born with certain capabilities and develop various interests and thirsts. I don’t think we can find ourselves until we seek new things, new experiences, new knowledge. Through these endeavors, we learn things that we carry with us, that we share with others, that we can use in our finite lives.
Logic is something, like language, that is uniquely human. Our logic, which is associated with our brains, is what puts us at the top of the food chain. Make use of it. Never take logical thinking for granted. It helps us to have a larger discourse when we converse about problems and issues that plague our lives, and it helps us achieve a more meaningful life.
Carl Case is a senior psychology and Spanish double major from Brookhaven.
