But what would life be if we never had to face adversity, rejection or a seemingly “no-win” scenario? It wouldn’t give you the opportunity to rise to the challenge and shine. Great thinkers would get lost in the masses, and heroes would go unnoticed. Where would this country be if our founding fathers were not faced with the unfair treatment bestowed upon them by Britain?

I’m willing to bet you may never have heard of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Paul Revere or Thomas Paine. Imagine if Mohandas Ghandi didn’t return to India to non-violently battle for India’s independence.

Times of divisiveness and dissension have defined some of history’s most important players. What you do in the face of adversity defines who you are. What if Michael Jordan hung up his sneakers after getting cut from his high school basketball team or Thomas Edison listened to those who told him “he was too stupid to learn anything”? Well for one, I may be writing this column in candle light, but I also wouldn’t have realized that you can’t learn to succeed until you learn how to fail.

John Carroll doesn’t offer a class that teaches you how to respond to failure (possible addition to Last Year Seminar?), and I learned that the hard way this year. For most of my life, I’ve been relatively successful. I was never cut from a sports team – except the bowling team my senior year of high school, but is that really a sport? When I wanted something, I went after it and got it. Yet, at the same time, I never took many risks. I wouldn’t engage in an activity if I wasn’t relatively sure I could succeed. I wouldn’t put myself in a position where failure was a likely outcome.

That all changed this year, and I could not have been happier. One of the best pieces of advice my father gave me was to live an interesting life.

Simple yet complex. How boring would life be if you never threw yourself into the fiery battle or took a blind leap? Sure you may get burned or fall flat on your face, but imagine the feelings if you come out on top. I get goosebumps just thinking about it. I’m convinced you can’t live an interesting life if you hide from adversity, run from rejection, and travel down the easy road.

I’m about to embark on the next stage of my life. I have no idea where I’m heading, what I’m doing, or the difficulties I may face. But, I welcome them with open arms because, honestly, life would be pretty mundane if I didn’t get kicked to the curb or spat in the face once in awhile. I hope you do the same, too. If you see that girl or guy you have always thought was cute, then talk to them. Skip a class or take a 50-minute nap.

Just take risks, and swing if life throws you a curveball. Even if you miss, you learn, you adapt and then next time you’ll hit a ground rule double.

So before I leave you forever, please take this piece of advice my late grandfather always preached, “When you walk out that door, take a deep breath and say, ‘Look out world here I come,’ and grab life by the horns.” Thank you all for the best and the worst times of my life, it’s been a fun and fickle ride.

During Spring Break, I traveled to the Big Apple to visit my sister. Now, I’ve toured New York City multiple times and figured I tackled all that the majestic city has to offer. Boy, was I wrong. 

Feeding off of Editor in Chief Katie “I may be small, but I pack a large punch” Sheridan’s column, my trip challenged and broke the usual NYC stereotype. People think Jay-Z, Carrie Bradshaw and Rudy Giuliani. Well, everyone should have the opportunity to acquaint themselves with these NYC natives. 

Boston Bob, Scoop, Mikey K, Pablo, Dangerous Dave, Coach, Eddie and my personal favorite, Ricky Sprinkle. 

Boston Bob and Scoop haven’t been sober since the Bay of Pigs. Mikey K could win the jackpot and still find himself in debt. He also filed for bankruptcy with no assets. Pablo set his tie on fire in grade school. Dangerous Dave’s Irish brogue and Eddie’s thick Brooklyn accent have you continually asking the person next to you, “What did he just say?” (They told me to nod, smile and go with the flow). Coach, well, is Coach. 

And now, my faithful readers, I present Ricky Sprinkle. Security guard by day, a tempest of laughter and ridiculousness by night, Ricky would be an enigma for any clinical psychologist. 

My sister, her boyfriend and I attended a social gathering at Ricky’s place one night. During this exclusive event, Ricky and two others unrelentingly and proudly boasted that their driver’s licenses had been suspended. I felt like asking, “Everyone who has a valid license raise their hand!” There would have  been a minority. 

One woman even enlightened us with her stimulating license suspension story. According to her, she was pulled over, asked to step out of the car and put her hands behind her back. When she inquired as to why, the cop simply said something along the lines of, “You have a 10-year warrant for your arrest.” Oh, and the best part, she didn’t even know. 

But back to Mr. Sprinkle, I would like to make a final note about this prized individual. He has gout. Gout! There hasn’t been a documented case of gout since the Bubonic Plague. But I digress.

Earlier that day I traveled down to the World Trade Center site to visit the temporary memorial museum and St. Paul’s Chapel. Being that I was only in the eighth grade when terrorists attacked our freedom, I never really comprehended the magnitude of what happened. 

Despite their rebuilding effort, the austere, vacant lot where the towers once stood sent chills of patriotism up and down my spine. And with people from all around the world traveling thousands of miles to pay their respects, it served as an ardent reminder that at times we may bend, but will never break.

So, the break was over and I began my journey back to C-Town. Safely navigating my way through the Internet, I stumbled upon some commentary by political pundit and ultra-conservative Ann Coulter. Now, if you don’t know who Ann Coulter is then restrain your curiosity and don’t Google her.  Just ask Al Franken. 

Coulter’s bombastic writing and incredulous claims would make any decent human being convulse. A few days after 9/11, Coulter wrote, “We should invade their [the terrorists] countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.”

Well, “The Golden Girls” is on and I hear it’s the episode when Sophia steals Rose’s car to go on a blind date. So in the paraphrased words of my uncle, “Live, laugh and play reggae in your head.”

But one event in particular that defies those boundaries is the Olympics. 

It is an anomaly so spectacular that it brings red and blue, white and black, gay and straight together. For these brief two weeks, we put away all of our differences to support the red, white and blue. 

Just as an example, when Apolo Ohno is coming around that final turn, seconds from a gold medal, we aren’t cheering against him. We don’t pray that he wipes out. We all cross our fingers, close our eyes and as one nation, believe. 

These athletes don’t do it for a $120 million contract, but for pride and glory. They train nine hours a day for three and a half years on pure will and motivation. What do they get? They get personal satisfaction, a medal and, most importantly, a chance to stand at the top of the podium and hear their national anthem played in front of hundreds of millions of people. 

We at John Carroll can learn something from this. 

JCU has been hit hard this year by tragedy. We’ve been torn apart by our differences. 

To put it simply, we’ve seen better days. 

Over the past week, I’ve seen the worst come out of people here at JCU. Factions have been established, enemies made and sides taken. I understand that you have the right to stand up for your beliefs and fight for what you think is right, but past history has shown that times like this eventually spiral out of control. The 1968 Democratic Convention riots in Chicago. The shootings at Kent State University. The Civil Rights riots in the south. 

All of these happened because people were unwilling to compromise and establish a common interest. 

Now, I’m not saying that something like this will happen, but I am saying this: If we don’t come together right now, as a school, we will fail. 

We will fail not only ourselves, but also everything that this community stands for. We will succumb to our own selfish desires. 

JCU is comprised of varying ethnic, religious and political backgrounds. It’s like a mini-nation. Each student contributes to the unique make-up of this school and adds something no one else can. I know we have our differences and maybe I’m wishing for a Utopian society, but we will never know for sure unless we try. 

To those students involved in the Feb. 3 protest, you may think that you have no mutual interest with the administration or whoever is standing in your way. Well, you’re wrong. 

One thing that no one can ever take from us is that we are all Blue Streaks. 

We will always be the Blue Streak nation. 

It’s not just a name, but it’s something we will always have in common. You may disagree with my beliefs or what I stand for and we may never see eye-to-eye, but what we will always share is our Blue Streak pride.

It’s time to work together as the Blue Streak nation. I cannot stand to see us so divided and hostile. You may argue that I’m asking you to give up what you stand for, but what I’m saying is that we need to handle this constructively. We must use our common interest and work together from here.

Students and administration need to put down their weapons and meet in the middle. 

We’re supposed to be “Men and women for others” right? 

Then start acting like it.

In a three-page obituary jumped from the front page of The New York Times, it said that Salinger would walk around his Ursinus College campus claiming that he was going to write the next great American novel. He achieved his self-prophetic claim and then some. He inspired me to become the next great John Carroll University alumnus.

Shula. Russert. Fletcher. McDaniels. Caserio. Polian. 

Willert.

Don’t be alarmed if you see me walking around campus proclaiming that I will be the next panjandrum (see Wonderword) to come out of JCU. 

Soak it up. 

And when you’re older and your kids tell you they want to be like me, you can tell them that you were there when I began my epic journey. 

I have no idea how I’m going to get so famous, but I’ve got some ideas rattling around in my head. 

I could be the host of a Sunday morning political talk show on MSNBC. 

Since I coached a sixth grade basketball team and led them to a championship, I could take an NFL team to an undefeated season, win the Super Bowl, thus resulting in the dedication of an athletic field after me.

Hell, after winning the intramural flag football championship last year, I might get drafted as an NFL linebacker, make the Pro Bowl and be a finalist for the Walter Payton “Man of the Year” award.

I’ll probably end up coaching a professional sports team, start 6-0 and subsequently lose eight of the next 10 games and fail to make the playoffs. 

Eventually, I think I’ll want to move to the front office of a sports organization. In fact, they will most likely ask me to become the director of player personnel or the team’s general manager, either one will suffice. 

My final idea steps outside of the sports arena and jumps into the entertainment industry. 

I’m going to win an Emmy.

Actually, I think I’m going to  do every one of the aforementioned ideas in hopes that the University will get smart and rename the school Craig ‘Greg’ Willert University. 

I know everyone still reading at this point probably wants to punch me in the jeans, but unclench your fists and let me use my profound rhetorical skills to illustrate my flawless reasoning.

Growing up, I worked as a janitor at a local college, solved near impossible math problems well beyond my intellectual capacity, and became best friends with Ben Affleck.

So clearly I have the ability to exceed expectations and defy the odds, resulting in the achievement of each of my ideas. 

Plus, anyone who is friends with Ben Affleck, who miraculously survived a World War II plane crash and almost saved Josh Hartnett, has the will power to achieve anything. 

As I grow old, I’ll receive many awards, become the first U.S. citizen to receive the Medal of Honor and be inducted into every sports hall of fame (including the RV and Motor Home Hall of Fame).

Finally, I’m going to have a three-page obituary written about me. 

However, I want mine to be jumped from the front page of the award-winning Carroll News, as it was the first channel to let me proclaim, “I’m going to become the next great John Carroll alum.”