“There is always something going on.”This is according to “Socrates,” a character from the life-changing movie and book, “Peaceful Warrior.” His name really isn’t Socrates, and he isn’t a real person. What he tells the main character, who is the author of the book, does make him sound like a philosopher, hence the name Socrates.
I think that sometimes we all need this character “Socrates” in our life. It is encouraging to have someone there for us, motivating us to keep going, telling us that there’s more to the current moment that we live in.
I’m realizing how there is always something going on, even when it does not seem like it. At first, this did not make much sense to me either. How is something happening when I don’t see anything happening? There are a few ways to take this and I’m discovering more options.
One of my Resident Directors said to his residents, that in the dorm, there will always be somebody up doing something, no matter what time of day. During the day, it’s obvious that people are at class, at meetings, out with friends, and what have you. At night, people are still up doing activities until they decide to go to bed, and the night owls stay up even later than this. The early birds get up to start their days, sometimes this happens when a night owl is going to bed.
I remember one night I stayed up doing some readings and then recopied notes, as in a way to relax myself before trying to fall asleep for the night. I usually get into bed late as is, but this night I stayed up later to get more work done.
When I finished my tasks, I got my iPod out to listen to music to help me fall asleep. I got into my bed, put on a mix of my favorite artists and closed my eyes. Still awake listening to “Three Doors Down,” I heard my roommate get out of bed. At first, I thought that I had wakened her as I came back into the dorm room to get ready for bed. When I saw her pull out her books, I realized she was getting up to do work before she had her eight a.m. class.
My roommate was getting up a half hour after I went to bed. If you really care to know, that was 6:30 a.m.
When I saw my roommate later that day I asked her if I woke her up. She said she didn’t hear me come back into the room and that she got up in the morning to do work. Then she asked if she made too much noise. I told her that she didn’t and explained what happened. I had to laugh because I had just finished doing work and was going to bed when she was getting up from bed to do work.
My RD was right. There is always someone up doing something, no matter the time of day or night.
On Earth Day, there is an hour that people are asked to turn their lights off to conserve energy. I think it’s a fun idea, and I hope people will learn to conserve energy by turning off lights when they are not using the light.
This night, when I walked back to my dorm, I looked at the dorms that I passed to see who had lights on and how many had lights off.
Now, as I pass the dorms to get back to mine, if it is late at night, sometimes I look at the dorms to see which rooms still have their lights on. I do this to see how many people are still up.
My other point on how “something is always going on,” aside from people being awake, is that there is something always going on during the weekends. Although, I admit that I’m guilty, I have said there’s nothing going on during a certain weekend.
Think about this, what are students doing on weekends? Or people in general?
My favorite example of this is how something is always going on, whether or not you are a part of that something. It could be as simple as a friend talking to you after the weekend and telling you about what they did. They usually explain this by saying that you should have been there. You weren’t there because you were doing something else. All the same, there was something else happening that you could have been a part of.
It’s possible that on your walk home you will see people together hanging out, or walking around. Realize that just because your night has ended, there could still be something going on elsewhere. While you were sleeping, someone else may be getting up to start their day.
Ginger Rae Dunbar is a third-year student majoring in English with a minor in journalism. She can be reached at RD655287@wcupa.edu.