At the end of this week, my students face another big assessment. All of my former students know the stress of that…we all know the stress of that. In helping them prepare, one factor that I tell all of my students is to put in the work, the hours of preparation. For some, that is already known and they have plans to do so. For others, it’s a surprising thing to consider, but they trust me and do the work. However, for others, the idea that to prepare for an academic assessment takes a sacrifice of time is a shock and something they refuse to do.
As I was sharing with my students today, I said something that I knew I needed to repeat here. It is the reality that sacrifice should not be considered something unexpected or something abnormal. Rather, it should be assumed and planned for.
Once upon a time, we knew this as a people, as a culture. People understood that sacrifice, often connected to some personal suffering, was normal and not to be avoided. In fact, I think it fair to say the question of who would be successful in life was more of one related to who would sacrifice the most. Today, few actually expect to have to sacrifice, and when they do, it is seen as abnormal, something to avoid and perhaps a signal that they are doing something wrong.
This feeling is connected to reality that we’ve lost our way and ruined the idea of the American Dream. Today, that Dream apparently means a life of ease, of gluttony and excess. And, not surprisingly, this leads to a feeling of entitlement and frustration when life becomes hard. We have it so easy in this country, even the supposedly poor people, that when things are really tough, many people wilt….or shut down in the shock of realization that there should be sacrifice.
As a people, we must wake up and realize that not only is our collective target off base (luxury, ease, comfort), but that anything worth doing demands diligent effort connected to sacrifice. I sure hope my students realize this and put in the effort, even if means getting less sleep, less TV, less social media and less random interaction.
Sacrifice isn’t abnormal. Sacrifice is to be expected…and happily engaged.