You wake up in the morning and, unless you have discovered the secret to being joyful upon opening your eyes, you think: “This sucks.” What’s the point? Wouldn’t I just be happier sleeping in and staying home and watching tv?

Reading through source after source for my capstone, regarding curriculum in Kindergarten, has led me to the question: “What is the point of education?” If the point is to produce successful adults, then children aren’t learning the way they should be, and the adults in charge need to change their intentions. Somewhere along the line, the vision of inherent dignity has been lost. The purpose of not only education but life, heavily focuses on the search for truth.    

All these thoughts of purpose have led me to think about how the activities and things you do in life are all for a purpose. Whether you choose to do something or you are forced, there is a purpose in everything. If you think about it, there is even a purpose in doing something spontaneously. How is it so? Because the purpose of that is to fill your time with something or to do something for the fun of it. The purpose also may not always be the right purpose, but still, everything that happens, happens for a reason. 

This then brings us to the realization that since everything has a reason for it being so, there is more to life than just to live and die. Everything has to have a point. Be it a little thing like tying your shoe to a larger choice like getting married, there must be an end point that it all culminates to. 

The easy shout-aloud answer to that for Christians is to get to Heaven, and while that should be a goal that everyone has, there is still the question: What is the purpose of getting to Heaven?

Questions and thoughts like these are luckily subjects that will be brought up in your time spent at Montrose, particularly in Junior year Theology and Senior year Capstone. Of course, it is sometimes hard to find the point in various things you do — especially things you are forced to do — but luckily you will have a better grasp of what the Telos (ultimate end/object) of life will be by the time you finish your Montrose education. Which is why, when you go off into the world, you will realize that many people aren’t as lucky as you. They might not realize that they are worth so much and they are here for a real purpose, and you will feel a gratitude for the depth of subjects you have learned here. 

Ultimately, our goal is to be happy. But when you are doing things that you don’t want to do or when things happen unfairly in life, it is very hard to see how they could be moving you to a place of happiness. Our goal is to be happy, but not in the way you think. It does not mean getting whatever you want, even though you believe that it is what will bring you peace. Our goal is to be happy praising God for giving us the opportunity to love him. 

I know what you are thinking. First of all, what does that even mean? And secondly, that does not sound like my definition of happiness.

But while we are here on Earth, we will never feel ultimate happiness because this world is not here to fulfill us. This world is like an airport, and heaven is your destination. Understanding that there is a purpose to everything can help you to realize that when things happen that are difficult, it is all for a greater reason and not just to impinge on your joy. 

There is a craze on Earth right now spreading through the younger generations of living your life to the fullest and spending your time doing things that make you happy. While I agree that it is always good to find time to give to yourself, it is necessary to note that hardships in life are just as important. If your goal is to live life to the fullest, you may find ways to constantly do things you enjoy in order to reach happiness, but once whatever activity you are doing ends and there is a little break in the streak of enjoyable things, you will feel a sort of emptiness. You may feel this on a small scale as well, like when you hang out with your friends and then have to go home and are sad about it. This is because nothing in this life is meant to fulfill you completely. There is a point in joyful moments and a point in major struggles. All of this is to prepare you to be ready to accept God’s invitation to eternal happiness with him in Heaven.  

By Ava Ryan ’23, Faith Editor 

23aryan@montroseschool.org