Monday, August 27, 2012

Drunk on Life and Virtue

Is it important to be "continually drunk on life" as Louis Baudelaire's poem "Be Drunk," says we should be? It is my firm belief that we most certainly should! There are so many things in this life and this world to intoxicate ourselves on, whether it be friendships, music, dancing, running, laughing, there are so many wonders in the world to explore, we as people need to explore them! Living life to the fullest gives the most dull tasks meaning, and gives us something to look forward to!

In his work “On the Uses of a Liberal Education: As Lite Entertainment for Bored College Students” Mark Edmundson says that college students have lost their passion for education, and having studied Liberal Arts myself, I'd have to agree! This is sometimes on part of the instructors or the students, and other times its on account of the dull content. However, taking a new and exciting look at education, realizing the value of being an intelligent and well rounded person gives the student a desire to get drunk on learning! Soon they will be pouring over books and ignoring the Internet (cause lets face it, television is obsolete at this point), and we as students quickly come to appreciate the thrill of learning. 

Go read a book everyone. Not a dull book, start with a good one! Then when you get that passion for learning going you can go into something more for education's sake than for entertainment's sake. Oh, and avoid text books, they're like diluted knowledge, someone else thought they could teach you better than the great mind that actually came up with the original thought! Read it straight from the source, there's nothing like a great mind contacting your mind to inspire greatness in you.