Someone once told me, “Enjoy every moment of college because it goes by unbelievably fast.” As cliché as it might sound, I have come to experience this bittersweet reality as I embark on my last months at TCU. It’s beginning to sink in as this journey is coming to an end and my next, well, is to take what I’ve learned and do something.

But what exactly am I supposed to do with my life?

As much as I don’t believe there’s a simple standard answer for all of humanity, I’m going to propose one: we are called as responsible citizens to be love in action. Regardless of where you are or what you do, invest in joy. Use your skills and talents to do what you truly love and in the process, make the world a more beautiful place.

“The purpose of human life is to serve and to show compassion and the will to help others…you cannot do much about the length of your life, but you can do a lot about it’s depth and width.”

I believe as the next generation, it is our responsibility to passionately pursue our dreams. With brilliant, innovative ideas, youthful drive and vigorous perspectives, how can we dare to let our dreams be just dreams?

We have our whole lives ahead of us.

We have been given the wonderful and rare opportunity to pursue an education – to have the tools, knowledge and freedom to do something marvelous and our futures are a new chapter – a blank slate that is waiting to be painted, colored and scribbled all over.

It’s not a ridiculously radical idea but I feel sometimes we need to be reminded: We only have one life, so where will we leave our mark?”

Next essay: Amy Tuttle – Hitting a moving target: The negotiation of responsible citizenship
TEDx at TCU – “What does responsible citizenship look like?”