As students wet forth in an increasingly confusing and competitive world, it is necessary to remain firmly grounded and to maintain focus. These can be extraordinarily challenging goals as students are suddenly exposed to whirlwind of new ideas and introduced to people with new ideas and hailing from different backgrounds. In my view, remaining firmly grounded and focused is easily accomplished if one can fall back on a support network that is both ethical and constituted of caring people. In my case, as I step forward into the world of higher education, I must remember what is important to me more specifically, I must always balance knowledge with the moral guidelines consistent with my God, my family, and my friends.
Todays interdisciplinary world, in which once unsolvable riddles are being approached and solved in unique ways, illustrates in a superficial manner what educational institutions able to integrate Christian values with modern scientific realities have known in a more holistic sense for years more specifically, it is the integration of different types of knowledge that makes communities and the world a more comprehensible and ethical planet to inhabit. Faith and learning must be integrated in ways that allow human beings to embody the discovery of knowledge, faith, and service intellectually as well as in their daily lives and work. This embodiment, in turn, is a process of continual reaffirmation of the mind and the spirit that becomes manifest in a duty to serve in ways that share that faith and that knowledge in all aspects of an individuals life. A merging of academic learning based on empirically-based evidence and faith can prepare me for a life of service in practical ways that consistently encourage the renewal of the mind, the spirit, and the community.
This integrated approach to learning and to life will prepare me for a life of service because, recognizing Gods gift of reason, I will be able to identify and to harmonize the moral tenets of my faith with the technical knowledge that I have acquired. I can serve by using this knowledge in ways that are informed and constrained by my faith, ensuring that my lifetimes endeavors serve God and my fellow human beings, and by always remembering that this type of faith-informed service is much more likely to promote justice between and among all people. Neither do I harbor any doubts that service learning will positively affect my need as a fallible human being to diligently and continuously renew my mind, my spirit, and my community. There is a very real need to create connections between the academic world and the community. The body and the mind, contrary to the opinions certain age-old philosophers such as Renes Descartes (I think therefore I am), cannot be separated or compartmentalized. Our mind learns and it must direct our body to serve. This service must benefit the community in which we live. Service learning, in short, bridges academic knowledge and community needs.
There is more to life and a moral foundation, however, than faith alone quite the contrary, it is imperative to participate socially and this demands for me first and foremost a strong family devotion and a supportive network of friends. My family has always supported me, whatever challenges I have faced, and they have unfailingly sacrificed and lent their untiring efforts to aid me in meeting and transcending expectations and goals. They have taught me the meaning of sacrifice and selflessness and these are personal characteristics and values which I apply more broadly in my own life and social interactions.
There are those, to be sure, who adopt a narrower definition of life in which a rugged individualism assumes a sort of primary to the harmonization of disparate individual and social goals and aspirations in my considered opinion, however, a caring family is the best analytical model upon which to construct caring communities and societies. There is also a diversity opinion that exists within my family, a myriad of different ways of analyzing challenges and issues, and the ability of the family to offer competing perspectives that are ultimately synthesized into an accommodating course of action also serves as a model for academic and social discourse. My family, in short, provides personal inspiration and also functions in my mind as an idealistic model of positively functioning communities and societies more generally.
Finally, in addition to the importance that I attach to my faith and my family, it must also be acknowledged that friends complete in many ways my life. There are times when faith and family, for a variety of reasons, are supplemented in positive ways by interactions with other human beings. My friends have taught me to be more social, to become more confidant in my own individuality, and they have also provided an important outlet in terms of providing advice and understanding. When I have needed help to overcome feelings of doubt, such as when my mother left the country for one year, my friends stepped in and helped my deal with my feelings. Additionally, having friends allows one to have other experiences in a vicarious manner more particularly, I have seen my friends encounter challenges and helped them to assess options and overcome their own problems and challenges. Friends enrich out lives, they lend us experiences that we might not have on our own, and they teach that the human animal is dependent in many important ways.
In the final analysis, this journey that we call life is best attended in my case by a strong spiritual faith, a devotion to family, and a strong network of friends. These commitments result in an ethical application of knowledge, a respect and tolerance for diverse opinions, and a social unit that can strengthen communities and societies.
Todays interdisciplinary world, in which once unsolvable riddles are being approached and solved in unique ways, illustrates in a superficial manner what educational institutions able to integrate Christian values with modern scientific realities have known in a more holistic sense for years more specifically, it is the integration of different types of knowledge that makes communities and the world a more comprehensible and ethical planet to inhabit. Faith and learning must be integrated in ways that allow human beings to embody the discovery of knowledge, faith, and service intellectually as well as in their daily lives and work. This embodiment, in turn, is a process of continual reaffirmation of the mind and the spirit that becomes manifest in a duty to serve in ways that share that faith and that knowledge in all aspects of an individuals life. A merging of academic learning based on empirically-based evidence and faith can prepare me for a life of service in practical ways that consistently encourage the renewal of the mind, the spirit, and the community.
This integrated approach to learning and to life will prepare me for a life of service because, recognizing Gods gift of reason, I will be able to identify and to harmonize the moral tenets of my faith with the technical knowledge that I have acquired. I can serve by using this knowledge in ways that are informed and constrained by my faith, ensuring that my lifetimes endeavors serve God and my fellow human beings, and by always remembering that this type of faith-informed service is much more likely to promote justice between and among all people. Neither do I harbor any doubts that service learning will positively affect my need as a fallible human being to diligently and continuously renew my mind, my spirit, and my community. There is a very real need to create connections between the academic world and the community. The body and the mind, contrary to the opinions certain age-old philosophers such as Renes Descartes (I think therefore I am), cannot be separated or compartmentalized. Our mind learns and it must direct our body to serve. This service must benefit the community in which we live. Service learning, in short, bridges academic knowledge and community needs.
There is more to life and a moral foundation, however, than faith alone quite the contrary, it is imperative to participate socially and this demands for me first and foremost a strong family devotion and a supportive network of friends. My family has always supported me, whatever challenges I have faced, and they have unfailingly sacrificed and lent their untiring efforts to aid me in meeting and transcending expectations and goals. They have taught me the meaning of sacrifice and selflessness and these are personal characteristics and values which I apply more broadly in my own life and social interactions.
There are those, to be sure, who adopt a narrower definition of life in which a rugged individualism assumes a sort of primary to the harmonization of disparate individual and social goals and aspirations in my considered opinion, however, a caring family is the best analytical model upon which to construct caring communities and societies. There is also a diversity opinion that exists within my family, a myriad of different ways of analyzing challenges and issues, and the ability of the family to offer competing perspectives that are ultimately synthesized into an accommodating course of action also serves as a model for academic and social discourse. My family, in short, provides personal inspiration and also functions in my mind as an idealistic model of positively functioning communities and societies more generally.
Finally, in addition to the importance that I attach to my faith and my family, it must also be acknowledged that friends complete in many ways my life. There are times when faith and family, for a variety of reasons, are supplemented in positive ways by interactions with other human beings. My friends have taught me to be more social, to become more confidant in my own individuality, and they have also provided an important outlet in terms of providing advice and understanding. When I have needed help to overcome feelings of doubt, such as when my mother left the country for one year, my friends stepped in and helped my deal with my feelings. Additionally, having friends allows one to have other experiences in a vicarious manner more particularly, I have seen my friends encounter challenges and helped them to assess options and overcome their own problems and challenges. Friends enrich out lives, they lend us experiences that we might not have on our own, and they teach that the human animal is dependent in many important ways.
In the final analysis, this journey that we call life is best attended in my case by a strong spiritual faith, a devotion to family, and a strong network of friends. These commitments result in an ethical application of knowledge, a respect and tolerance for diverse opinions, and a social unit that can strengthen communities and societies.
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