YOUNG: Saving the day 101

For many years, I have been struggling to come to terms with the fact that I am not Batman. I cannot tell you much I wish I was Gotham's wealthiest orphan. Nothing against Dr. and Mrs. Young, but given a choice between their loving support and my very own rocket car with matching cape, I'd paint a target on their backs and ditch them in a seedy back alley faster than you could say, "Holy origin story, Adam West!"

But it is not merely the appeal of having an all-knowing English butler, an unimaginatively named mega-corporation and a variety of colorful villains with magic tricks involving writing utensils that makes me want to put on a pointy helmet and fight crime. Bruce Wayne's training was a means unto a single end: becoming an awesome superhero. Theatric face punching can't really lead to anything more than stylish bloody noses. It is also his education's clarity of purpose, that academic exclusivity, that makes me envious of Christian Bale. Of course, that envy dissipates at the exact moment we stop talking about "The Dark Knight" and move on to "The Machinist".

I'm majoring in biomedical engineering, and its purpose is nowhere near as obvious as beating up bad guys wearing ridiculous costumes. Given the program's fancy title, people back in Oklahoma often ask me what it is and what I'm going to do with it. Usually I'll regurgitate the dictionary definition &- "BME comes from the Greek word for homework galore" &- and drop enough technical jargon to make them change the topic. But my most honest answer is exactly what Gotham's police find at the scene of the crime &- not a clue.

Oh, I do have some ideas about what I want to do with my life. Marrying an obscenely rich supermodel &- or Anne Hathaway &- and then playing golf every day would be ideal. But my studies here at BU will only directly correspond with my working life if I become a professor. Even then I'll need to learn how to grow facial hair and clutter my desk with enough papers to stock the world's least entertaining newsstand. And if I join the real world's workforce I'll have to learn even more skills on the job. Pretending to be busy takes practice and I won't go in knowing how to appear productive.

The scariness of uncertainty may make me long to wear Batman's big, stompy boots, but universities really aren't supposed to be vocational schools. I didn't come to college expecting it to provide me with a tidy group of classes that would perfectly apply to a specific job. Honestly, that would probably be pretty boring and pretty unwise given today's business realities. Considering how fast technology advances nowadays, it'd be akin to spending years learning horseback riding because that was the only way you would be able to visit Aunt Muriel in Montpelier only to find that someone had skipped right past the automobile and invented an instantaneous teleportation portal. Your equestrian skills would be about as necessary as another analogy in this paragraph.

So what I'm interested in is learning what kinds of topics I want to think about and what kinds of methods I want to use to wrestle them. I'm studying BME because I was fascinated by pitching mechanics in high school and wanted to know more about the science involved. I continue to find the subject matter engaging, so I plow on. But my writing classes have also helped me develop a more conscious interest in my ideas about politics, freedom and people. I'll be able to take all that into account when future educational and employment opportunities present themselves.

College is all about showing you new perspectives and letting you try them on for size. For every commonly held viewpoint I have come across, college has helped me explore the alternatives. I can find a socialist and test Barry Goldwater's libertarianism. I can find a Catholic and discuss Andrew Greeley's use of sex as a religious symbol. I can take physics and see if I think squaring the speed of light is worthwhile. I can find a Yankees fan and finally make use of that theatrical face-punching skill.

As Robert Frost wrote, "My object in living is to unite/My avocation and vocation/as my two eyes make one in sight." It'd be great if you could do something directly related to your degree, but it'd be even better if you could do something you love. First you have to know who you are and now is the time to learn. College is a step on the sidewalk of life and not just a parking space on the road to work.