why i came to the city

I came to the city to learn deeply, to be challenged greatly, and thus be greatly rewarded.

I came to create and explore that which ennobles mankind: music, art, philosophy.

I came to read Nietzsche, Coleridge, Sartre, Byron and Poe and have no one tell me that they were drunken, drugged or lifeless men, only that they were exceptional men with ideas and visions and passions that set them apart from their peers.

I came to ask the pressing questions -- Who am I? What is humanity? What is a life of faith? Who is God? What am I really supposed to do with my life? -- and begin to find the answers.

I came to dive into cultural diversity, to smell and see it everywhere, to make friends in many circles, savor their differences and experience that which makes us all the same - breath, faith, love.

I came to be moved to tears by poignant moments, unashamed of emotion and dedicated to living a life in bright and saturated color.

I came to surrender myself to God and experience Him in new ways.

I came to sip coffee and intellectualize, unashamed to be young and curious.

I came to develop my own potential, with the help and blessing of He who gave me that potential.

I came to take in the bad times along with the good, to suffer, to toil, and thus to reap a greater appreciation of the good times, when they come.

I came to taste freedom, free from material burdens.

I came to speak dramatically, even poetically, with many infinitives.

I came to throw my head back and laugh with gusto.

I came to be bold, broke and happy.

I came to live my life in a shout, not a whisper.

Oscar Wilde once said, "It is tragic how few people ever 'possess their souls' before they die. Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their life a mimicry."

Myself, I refuse to live in shades of gray.