Mercy
My dad always says, “No one in life ever promised you fair.”
Over the course of my life, I’ve heard and internalized this phrase so many times.
While inherently this is a pessimistic ideology, it’s a realistic one. I used to hate it when my dad would say this to me, especially when I was upset about something and wanted comfort. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized he wasn’t disagreeing with me, he wanted me to go further.
It’s easier to point out when things are not fair, than it is to understand that the world allows injustice and hurt to live freely. It’s easy to say it wasn’t fair that our class only got approximately 50 days in the school building this year. It isn’t fair that we’re wearing masks that cover our beautiful faces. It especially isn’t fair that we had to compromise so much of what made Mercy what it is in order to keep others safe.
All of that is easier to say than it is to reconcile with the fact that over 500,000 people have been lost to this virus, some of whom you may know.
Over our four years at Mercy, we were taught that we live in a world where fairness is not promised, but it can be achieved. I’ve been wondering lately, why is it that we don’t have to expect fairness from others, but it is so heavily expected of us? Why do we have to be the fair ones? And then I realized, others didn’t go to Mercy.
In our time here, we have grown into a family that does what is right, no matter what that means we have to give up. We have worked to create a community where, at least in these walls, we can achieve fairness.
Mercy helps us open our eyes to what is wrong in this world, and know we have to go out and work to fix it. Whether that be decorating the world with beautiful art, or innovating new technology, it’s now our turn to leave the school building and get to work.
I want nothing more in this world than just a few more days, even a few more seconds in our second home, this safe haven where everyone has been celebrated to be who they want to be, but that’s not realistic.
The real world is scary, and hard, and not fair, but it also hasn’t met the class of 2021 yet. I can say with confidence that we have grown so much since those early days as freshmen, and that we are now well-informed, confident, and fearless women.
We are ready and prepared to go out and promise fairness, kindness, and empathy to every person we meet.
That is what I will take from the incredible, life-changing four years in the Mercy community.
Day by day, we will help others realize that fairness should be promised. This year, while slightly unfair and definitely bittersweet, is not the end of our time at Mercy.
Now, we get the honor to call ourselves Mercy alumnae, and the work we do in the future will be celebrated by the thousands of Mercy sisters before and yet to come. This is just the beginning.
By the time we get started on creating the environment we want to live in, the world may say that it isn’t fair that it had to put up with us, and I hope we can all say back, “World, no one ever promised you fair!”