From drug busts to car searches, the ending to this academic year feels like there shouldbe a ‘to be continued’ as the credits begin to roll … only there is no sequel in the budget.
The events of the past few weeks have shown us how bizarre both people and places can be and has effectively drained the minds and emotions of every student. We have overstayed our welcome in a place that does not want us anymore, and now we must walk on eggshells in order to exit.
Were the struggles we faced this year worth it? All of the butting heads, headaches and heartaches? I am sure we all wished certain issues never existed in the first place. However, if such problems are on our campus, one does not have to try hard to imagine the types of issues circulating beyond our Williamsburg bubble.
Simply escaping campus will not make anything easier for our future. The fact that the stresses of this year were so heavy must speak to how much we as a community must actively change to help one another instead of hurt. The more we run away this summer, ignoring people and conversations that have caused pain, the more we allow aggression to build up and hurt our wellbeing.
None of us want to end this year on a bad note — we would like to quietly leave this year and the relationships we have made in mutual satisfaction. Instead, we must be torn away from this place this summer, so that neither of us can do more harm to the other. It is in these moments that we learn how to be self-standing individuals, rising above the crap that our institution and community throw at us.
And so, it is necessary we have a bad breakup with Williamsburg. Only time can heal this strange wound we have all been afflicted by for the past few weeks. As we say our spiteful goodbye to this unkind year, it is so we can heal and then meet again with new breath, minus the months of social pollution we all have contributed to the College of William and Mary air.
Amongst all the frustration at the end of this year, there is a glimmer of hope. This hope is in the form of sharing a smile with an old friend on a porch swing after eating ice cream. It is cold outside, and your nerves are in a knot because of the six papers you still need to write … but the smile from an old dear friend reminds you why you withstand the cold. We, after all, are here to learn, not just from our institution, but from each other, and this year has certainly been a learning process for us all. With any luck, we will see our old friends again next year and share a new smile for the journey about to begin. Until that day, it is time to finish what we started 10 months ago.