Captain’s Mono-Log: Stardate 10/26/2017
I’ve been traveling through the School System for what feels like a millennium, forced to make stops at many strange and unfamiliar planets, the most recent of which being High School, where I had to spend four years in an institution ruled with an iron fist. At first, I was eager to begin my journey, I had heard stories of the School System which described it as the ideal place to hone your mind and fully discover a sense of self, which made me even more excited to begin my pursuit of knowledge. I retained that optimism throughout the early stages of my journey but I soon found myself feeling conflicted about the experience. This feeling began to manifest itself within me once I landed on the planet High School, a mandatory stop for interstellar travelers journeying through the School System. The planet itself was a cold wasteland, littered with prison-like buildings where travelers were forced to serve a four-year sentence to continue their trek through the stars. I initially saw the planet as my demise, I felt constrained to the tasks given to me by my overlords and I lacked the freedom to learn that I so desperately desired. I began to doubt the importance of my journey, and the thought of it being a waste of time loomed over my head like a brewing storm. Had it not been for my fellow interstellar travelers stuck on the planet with me I would have surely lost myself to these negative thoughts with no means of getting out. I realized that although I despised High School, it provided the opportunity to meet the people who have made the biggest impact on my journey. It also granted me the opportunity to discover a great deal about myself through hardship and success, a lesson I would’ve never learned so clearly had it not been for the challenges that were presented by this experience. Once my sentence had drawn to its conclusion I nearly started to miss the planet, I had started to become comfortable and I knew that challenges far greater than anything I have ever faced lie ahead. Months after my departure from High School, I landed on a planet known as Baruch, which contained a remarkably diverse student population where travelers of all backgrounds coexist with one another in their shared pursuit of a higher education. I am finally experiencing everything I have longed for regarding my needs as a student, the feelings that come with working towards a degree that I care about reignites the passion within me that I thought had been lost to High School. I know that beyond this point lies the true journey and there’s a great deal of work to be done on this planet. However, I see it as the crucible from which I will be forged anew, stronger than ever, and ready for my journey through the universe.