The True, The Good, and The Beautiful

“The True, The Good, and The Beautiful!” affirmed my high school Latin teacher.  I was a startled sophomore and an average student when I first heard Mr. O’Neill’s declaration. I’ve heard similar words before, misarticulated by actors, or murmured under the breaths of disgruntled moralists, but I was young and pierced with a “career dilemma.“ He continued to pull half of the students out of their daze as they drew a startled consciousness, reporting for class with a rigid affirmative nods. ”Pursue and do everything you undertake with all curiosity, inquisitiveness, desire, commitment, and zeal for the highest excellence,” he continued. I think at that moment I was the only one of thirty-four who unhinged his jaw, still kept his mouth closed, but failed to yawn.  “Remember, what you are and come to be is infinitely more important than what you merely possess or merely can do, i.e., you are a person with intellect, free will, and memory, not a number quantity or measure.” There I was first greeted by metaphysics. O’Neill was a scholar of the classics and a dogmatic Roman Catholic, accoutered in a thrifty tuxedo, flowered tie, socks to match, and dress shoes. As a man of conviction, he was a stark and an unusual persona for a public high school.

It was difficult for a fifteen year old to take him seriously, but something in my head clicked. I wondered why I was the only one who took something from those pivotal words; did no one else find these lines substantial?
An alarm triggered my conscience and an ardor for philosophy came to fruition. I was impressed with some sense of academic duty. I began to self-consciously question my decisions, the lot of which now seemed immature. Neither did accelerating grades nor trivial inebriated criticisms from friends seem to matter . It was the first time that I went out of my way to investigate myself. “First myself, then the world.”
Two years later, I chose to pursue philosophy and economics as undergraduate studies in order to understand what makes civilization tick: both materially and mentally. I knew that I didn’t want to pursue something simply academic or a specialization with a linear career, but some cohesive synthesis that could prepare me for some effective goals.