If I Could Live My Life Over Again I Would Essay

[Semarias Alfna]

Churchillwas conscious of the difference between his approach and the approach of scholars. Sometimes he seemed to have an undue respect for scholars and what they are able to do as opposed to him. Fortunately, some of that is put on. He seems to sense the difference between his approach and the usual scholarly approach when he refers in one of the essays in Thoughts and Adventures, with some contempt, to two imaginary scholars, whom he calls Dr. Dryasdust and Dr. Gradgrind.

The song has four verses, but it goes on to describe splendid cricketers and scholars of marvelous force among the giants, and daunting and unmatchable academic and gymnastic feats. Yet the final verse of the song offers the boys an entirely different message:

And so the Prime Minister and the old Harrovian remarked that the boys at Harrow had been singing of the wonderful giants of old, but he asked them if anyone could doubt that this generation was as good and as noble as any the nation had produced, and that its men and women can stand against all tests.

Churchill held himself up to a high standard, and a sign of this is that, unlike some adults who come back to school with great nostalgia it reminds them how they used to read and think long ago in another life, Churchill kept doing that all his life.

Daniel Flanagan lives in Redford, Mich., with his wife and son, Blake (in photo), and daughter, Gabby. He builds sheds and garages for a living. Flanagan wrote this essay for an English 101 class at a local community college where he is studying sociology. Photo courtesy of Daniel Flanagan hide caption

I don't know why I came to the decision to become a loser, but I know I made the choice at a young age. Sometime in the middle of fourth grade, I stopped trying. By the time I was in seventh grade, I was your typical degenerate: lazy, rebellious, disrespectful. I had lost all social graces. I was terminally hip and fatally cool.

It wasn't long after that I dropped out of school and continued my downward spiral. Hard physical labor was the consequence for the choices I made as an adolescent. At the age of 21, I was hopelessly lost, and using drugs as a way to deal with the fact that I was illiterate and stuck in a dead-end job carrying roof shingles up a ladder all day.

But now I believe in do-overs, in the chance to do it all again. And I believe that do-overs can be made at any point in your life, if you have the right motivation. Mine came from a surprising source.

It was September 21, 2002, when my son Blake was born. It's funny that after a life of avoiding responsibility, now I was in charge of something so fragile. Over the years, as I grew into the title of Dad, I began to learn something about myself. In a way, Blake and I were both learning to walk, talk, work and play for the first time. I began my do-over.

It took me almost three years to learn how to read. I started with my son's books. Over and over, I practiced reading books to him until I remembered all the words in every one of them. I began to wonder if it were possible for me to go back to school. I knew I wanted to be a good role model, so after a year-and-a-half and a lot of hard work, I passed my GED test on my son's fourth birthday. This may not sound like much, and I'm surely not trying to get praise for doing something that should have been done in the first place, but all things considered it was one of the best days in my life. Today, I'm a full-time college student, studying to become a sociologist.

It's funny, growing up I always heard these great turn-around stories of triumph over shortcomings. But I never thought they applied to me. Now I believe it's a choice anyone can make: to do it all over again.

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My daughter is headed back to college this weekend for her junior year. My second daughter, entering her senior year in high school, is just beginning the process of choosing where she will apply. I look at them both and cannot help but hear that Avenue Q song in my head. You sit in the quad, and think, "Oh my God! I am totally gonna go far!"

I envy my children the college years ahead of them. Similarly, I envy the interns I so often meet with, and other young people I have mentored. Still, I would like to give future college students a bit of insight, hoping to spare them some of the slings and arrows I encountered along the way.

Enjoy learning. Dammit. College is the last time in your life you will be paid just to be smarter. Go into a library and just enjoy the smell of old books. Actually listen to your professors. Look deeper inside the lessons and don't just focus on the grade. I never gave college much of an effort really. I was too busy working, too focused on what's next. Which brings me to...

Focus on college. Man, I worked a lot in college. I knew I wanted to be a reporter, so I started right away. I was always working at a radio station or a newspaper. I remember sleeping through many a final exam because of working all night at my radio station. I rushed headlong into my professional dreams. It couldn't come fast enough. Now, I wish I would have just gone to a party, made a friend or two and had some fun living in the college moment.

Write. As someone who routinely looks at resumes and cover letters, I have to tell you, my heart breaks over today's writing (or lack thereof). I promise, whether you become a scientist or a publicist, someone is going to need you to be able to write. Don't use spellcheck all the time. Learn the language. Read books. Funny story: I was working on the Hill, and this young staffer (just out of law school) who worked for me was always chastising my writing, telling me it was too folksy. He added words no one knew and wrote awkwardly, telling me it was "the way lawyers do it." One day the Congressman came out and said to this young man, "You know, you really need to work on your writing. Have Lauri help you." Ahhh.

Find mentors. I was close to many teachers and advisers in school. The one I was closest to was one of my journalism professors. I was working at a small station in California when I left school, and feeling incredibly sorry for myself. I thought the radio market small, the station silly and my pay ridiculous. I was full of righteous indignation (the way you can only be when you are 22). I wrote him a whiny letter -- four pages worth. He sent me a postcard. On front, a photo of some of the greatest journalists over the last 100 years. On back, a simple note: "Lauri, one of the greatest things about you was always your curiosity. How do you have time to be curious? All you are thinking about is yourself." Ouch. It helped me. We kept in touch over the years, and I heard three years ago he was very sick with cancer. I called him at hospice. I said, "Pete, you meant the world to me. I wouldn't be where I am today without you. I just wanted to make sure you knew." He said, "Yeah, I always knew. But it's so wonderful to hear." He died a month later. What a difference he made in my life, in many lives. Find your Pete.

Keep in touch. Speaking of losing people.... There were many people who were incredibly important to me in college. I lost touch with them and life went on. For years, I meant to reconnect with one of them, a guy who was one of my heroes. I looked him up a couple of years ago, only to find he had just passed away. Needless to say, I wished I would have kept in my life now and then. I told myself I would do better with others, and have made a big effort to reconnect with old college friends lately. It is just wonderful to reconnect on Facebook (and LinkedIn!). These relationships are deep, important and covered with all sorts of warm memories and sentimental feelings. It doesn't take much to keep in touch. You will be glad you did.

Try not to think of the future yet. So many students in college focus on the future. Where will they go to med school? Will they do grad school? What about internships? What about college debt? Where will they live, work? You know, if I could go back to college, I would just enjoy it. Enjoy walking through the quad, reading books, studying, meeting with friends and debating Tolstoy (What can I say? I majored in Russian Studies.). Enjoy the crisp leaves while you walk to school. Go to a football game (something I somehow managed to avoid). Try theater. Do student government. Enjoy it all. I did a lot of those things, but I was always looking around the corner, wondering when I could get to the future. As James Taylor sings, I wish I could have just enjoyed the lovely ride.

In the end, life will be out there for you, my children. You will have mortgages, children, PTA meetings, IRAs, retirement. You will have all of those things, and trust me, as Harry Chapin sang in Cats in the Cradle, you look up and realize your children are grown. It happens fast. Oh, so fast.

You have all of that ahead of you. But for now? All of you college kids, just sit back and enjoy the ride. Make this your time to build your brain, create wonderful memories, love deeply and live well.

Lauri Hennessey is a Vice President of Corporate & Public Affairs at Edelman in Seattle. She is also a member of the Board of the Seattle Chapter of the Association of Women in Communications, a frequent writer and the mother of three. She went to college a looonnnggg time ago.

When I tell people this, they nod knowingly and say something about the 2016 election. While that critical turning point sped up my timetable, the realization that something fundamental was off in the country of my birth actually began years before that.

When I met Robert (now my husband) in 2015, I became a beneficiary of his love affair with Italy. Though I was well-traveled and had been to Italy a few times, I had never really gotten to know people who lived there. Through many visits and conversations with Robert's friends in Italy, who became my friends, my nascent belief that it might be time to leave the U.S. slowly solidified until it became almost the only thing I could think about.

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