If you were given the chance to travel around the world on a training ship, would you? After your adventures, would you deviate from your shipmates to pursue something you love? I went on a courageous cruise with the cadets of the Maritime College. This cruise turned into a personal pilgrimage - a journey of inner learning.
This past year, I discovered many things about myself, by experiencing unusual situations. For example, I spent the last year out of my natural habitat, in a school where I often felt alienated. I feel at home in the diversity of New York City, where ideas and preferences are allowed to flow as freely as the waters surrounding it. However, I felt trapped in a regimented school full of cadets, similar in taste, looks and actions. Even though I found the idea of a premature departure tantalizing, I was compelled to stay in Maritime for the sake of adventure. I’ve never been outside the country before college, and I was determined to make Maritime’s cruise my adventure. While I traveled with people dissimilar to me, I learned an important lesson about myself.
If someone were to ask, “Paul, what did you realize most last year?” I’d say, I found an urge to express myself. I remember the times I spent in high school communicating exquisitely, through several forms of media. In Brooklyn Tech I would produce movies, write in the school newspaper, or advertise for the sake of expression. I participated generously in the media major, for a love I couldn’t define. Even though Maritime tried to dilute my individuality, I realized how much I love expressing myself. While I love to communicate, I naturally loathe one thing.
I hate being bounded. Last year, I’ve been trapped in a system so ordered that individuality was discouraged. Every similar morning, I’ve been told to, “stand at attention; walk in a line; look like the rest; shut up!” Wearing the same khaki pants, with a tucked-in khaki shirt, and shiny shoes as everyone else, I realized that this wasn’t the life I wanted to live.
I told the officers at Maritime College, that their cadets weren’t the people I wanted to live with. In reply, the commanders told me to take one cruise and make my decision later. I went on a cruise that turned into a journey; a pilgrimage of inner learning. On that voyage, I realized that I love expressing myself, but I hate being bounded.