The Rulebook: "Why are we here?"

"Why are we here?"

In The 40 Year Old Virgin, there's a scene where Andy (Steve Carell)'s girlfriend asks him, rhetorically, what the object in her hand is. It is a plastic vagina. When she asks him why he has it, he replies, "To learn!"

Thanks to that awful description of a scene, you now know the background for what went on in AP Psych. Our teacher would often ask us why were were here when we were being rowdy in class. (Which was also often.) One day, one of my friends cried out, "To learn!" What was funny is that he was actually right - our teacher always reminded us that we were here to learn. We didn't go to high school to goof off or not pay attention in class. We went to learn about psychology, physics, calculus, French, and other stuff.

While the back-and-forth carried with our friend group from home throughout the subsequent couple of years, the idea is coming back to me stronger than ever. This is because of the Relay for Life last night at Stonehill. The student organizer asked us why we were here. And when I thought about it, "To learn" sounded like a pretty viable answer. And when I thought about the concept more, learning is a driving force for anything we do. Why do we go to class? Why do we volunteer our services in the community? Why do we attend mass? This is to learn. We learn about ideas and subjects, others, and ourselves. I remember saying that learning is one of the coolest things we can do with our life, and that we should take every opportunity we can get to learn. It will add to our already deep understanding of the world around us.

So ask yourself, "Why are we here?" from time to time. Even if it's not to learn, make sure you have a good reason for doing something. If you can't think of one, don't try and justify it under false pretense. Just don't do it.