Epiphanies of Circumstance

Today I think I had a sort of epiphany while running the usual trail by my house. Both running and epiphanies are luxuries I seldom experience on Wednesdays. (Thursdays are another story). No, I don't know what my thesis is going to be yet... Shoot, that would have been helpful! It is simply this: graduate school is a continued search for purpose. That's it. It's all about taking classes, attempting to look or sound smart, learning how to critically analyze and communicate in a certain context or field of emphasis so that you can begin searching for that one thing about which you think you have something to say--that one idea that gets you fired up enough that you think you can contribute. And, in the process, somehow, whether by the rarity of brilliance or sheer dumb luck, discover a way to legitimize or immortalize yourself in the grand discourse of academia and knowledge. OK, maybe that tastes a bit of hopeless cynicism. But that's how I feel about graduate school today.