Authentic Orange

Submitted by: Tiara Hernandez

First, what is it to be authentically Orange? Living as a member of Oregon State’s community is encompassing the qualities that make a successful, goal oriented individual with a drive to reach their ambitions. Being a “Beaver” is striving not to only better yourself, but also adding a special something to benefit the community.

How to live AUTHENTICALLY ORANGE?

1. Encompass what it is to be a student
2. Encompass what it is to be a leader AND follower in the community
3. Use your freedom that is based on your morality

1. Ok, when I say be a student, I don’t refer to enrolling in some classes, get a good GPA, get a cool degree, and be done. No. I’m talking about learning to learn. Whether you are a freshman or have a doctorate in nuclear science, the brain never stops learning. It’s part of who we are as humans that pushes us to keep increasing our knowledge and making decisions as to what we think is the right and wrong thing to do. Questioning is one of our distinct human characteristics that is valued by the individual. “Questioning is thinking about and imagining the world different than it already is, can create innovation.” (Lecture, 5/19/15) In Oregon State we are all innovators, using our abilities to create; whether it be working in a lab, using new skills to draw new conclusions, or creating ideas to share with others.

2. As humans, we have evolved to work in packs. It is programed within us to be a part of an institution bigger than ourselves for a required sense of belonging and acceptance. We strive for a “pursuit of identity and freedom”, (Lecture, 5/19/15) but sometimes tend to get lost in what is known as “the heard”. There is always a pressure in society to go above and beyond and “transcend” for your self. Even though one might not think so, this Oregon state environment is a community and we have to “be one with other people and not thinking of each other as separate” (Lecture 5/5/15) to be successful within the community. The “Dasein” as Heidegger would state, or the “being with” is the encountering of other people in our daily lives. (Lecture, 5/5/15) Whether we choose to acknowledge them or not, a form of isolation is pretty much impossible in our existence.

3. When you board onto the journey that is college, you’re taking on a new experience that will change you in a way that adds to your existence. “Man is free; but he finds his law in his very freedom.” (The Ethics of Ambiguity, 1947) Everything you have experienced until this moment has made you who you are and has led you to make the choices you’ve made and will make in the future. As a student, leader, and follower, we can choose to live authentically by living out our lives staying true to our morals, values, and religions. By being true to ourselves one must also deny “bad faith” which is lying to ourselves and diminishing our power to make decisions that affects us. To be in bad faith one can be “both the liar and the deceived” (Lecture, 05/26/15). Do not deny your transcendence, be the person you’re meant to be. And do not deny facticity, do not do things that you wouldn’t do.