I've been thinking a lot today about why I am an English major. I'm 20. I have to consider the rest of my life right now. I have to make plans that theoretically will last for years to come. Even if my interests are drastically different 20, 30, or 40 years from now, I can very likely only go to college once... and college is hailed to be the all-powerful factor which determines your job... Which, in United States society, determines your life. It's all perfectly laid out in this hierarchy, and I'm currently building the foundational layer.
I could give you all this hoity-toity rhetoric about how I am following my heart, how I feel called to an English major, how it's the only thing I could be truly happy doing for the rest of my life. Some of that is a little bit true. Most of it is stuff I hear from other people and adopt to make myself feel better.
To be honest, I'm an English major because I truly, deeply feel it is making me a better human being. And if I'm a better human being, I can accomplish more in any path I choose.
Reading is really just active listening. It's listening to the wonders, heartaches, joys, surprises, and complaints of humankind throughout the ages. It adds depth to my lifespan, contributing experiences and ideas that my time here on earth cannot possibly offer. It reminds me how vast the universe is, yet never makes me seem insignificant. In fact, it makes me feel like every individual experience I have counts for something, for this greater collective song of humanity.
It's idealistic, I'm aware -- but I am fully confident that it will strengthen my character and allow me to make the best possible decisions when the time is appropriate.
I'll leave you with this little quote in William Wordsworth's Preface to Lyrical Ballads. Most of the time I don't agree with Wordsworth's opinions of poetry, but I do like this (even-more-idealistic-than-me) little snippet about the role of the poet:
"He is the rock of defence for human nature; an upholder and preserver, carrying everywhere with him relationship and love. In spite of the difference of soil and climate, of language and manners, of laws and customs: in spite of things silently gone out of mind, and things violently destroyed; the Poet binds together by passion and knowledge the vast empire of human society, as it is spread over the whole earth, and over all time."
My interests might change, but whatever humanity is made of -- this stuff that goes deeper than jobs or expectations -- clearly doesn't. That's why I study English.
