Intelligence

I'm going to take a break from homework and applications to write my thoughts on today.

There was a campus forum today, with Condoleezza Rice.

That's right, you read that right. 

She was here. It was awesome. 

I didn't know much about her before today. And well, I still don't.

But I know she is incredibly smart. Brilliant. 

She spoke to us today about how wonderful our country is because we have all of these fantastic liberties. She told us that we need to be optimistic, we have been given so much. If we can't be optimistic given our circumstances, who can be? We need to have hope for the future because we are the future. She encouraged us to take advantage of all the amazing opportunities we have. Especially at this time, in this place. She touched on how amazing it is that we get to gain a great secular education while learning from our faith. Faith is not the enemy of learning. It's the perfect companion. She told us how necessary it is to find our passion so that we can love our lives, and do the best we can. And change lives. She told us we have a special responsibility to do the best. To be the best. She told us stories about her upbringing and how sometimes we can't control our circumstances but we can always control our response. Always. She also told us that in her time in office she learned that today's headlines are rarely history's judgement. Meaning most of the time today's upsets and mistakes rarely make a difference in the long run. We should focus on the long scope of things. 

I was so impressed with her insights into life. It was a really exciting experience to hear such a brilliant woman speak about her life and our lives. To give us advice based on what she has learned. It is really comforting to know that there are good people in the world. Good people leading our country. It was really awesome and I am so excited about this opportunity I had.