Hump Day

I can't imagine being bored...

May it's the collegiate world. Maybe it's mid-Michigan. Maybe it's just me. But I wonder how anyone in this world could be bored. I challenge my students when they say this about themselves and their lives. Last semester, I collected (or attempted to at least) a quarter from each student who used the word in my presence.

This semester, it's worse. I am challenging them to define the word - what it means in their world. According to a dictionary, it means "to tire with dullness or repetition." One thing a college campus is not is dull or repetitive. So, where does this enter funk in their lives?

Between you and me, I fear these folks are essentially bored with themselves. So many of them live in a world that is me first, I want. It is only when they expand their view, see others around them, get involved with someone or something "meaningful," journey outside themselves, that the word "bored" leaves their daily vocabulary.

Don't get me wrong. So many of my students work on and off campus, participate in sports, clubs, home life, etc. These are the folks that do not whine about the dullness of days. That's why we offer alternative Spring Breaks here, and service learning requirements. Once a young person's eyes are opened and their thoughts are elsewhere, they tend to perk up. It's wonderful to watch. It is like a bud opening, a hatchling springing forth, a birth of person-hood. That is anything but boring.