Marilyn Cole
445-84-7081

Describe one episode in your life which best epitomizes your character and 
your contemplations, and presents to the reader the style with which you 
view the world.

"'Education is an admirable thing, but nothing that is worth knowing can 
be taught.'"  Doannie looked up from my bookbag with a meditative glance at 
me and a raised eyebrow.  "Ah, yes, I'd say that that Oscar Wilde character 
knew what he was talking about."

Sitting on West Lawn, we both paused for a moment.  I looked down at the 
bookbag that had been with me for the past three years of high school.  I 
knew that it had the typical marks of a 17 year old girl: the names of bands 
I listen to, little plastic wings from the first time I'd flown, the Star 
Wars logo down the side.  But what Doannie had noticed was a section of 
quotes that I had written in small letters at the bottom.  

The irony of his statement was that both of us were spending our summer 
there, on that small-town college campus, because of the simple fact that 
we loved learning.  Doannie was the exceptional author, a Communicative 
Arts major, and one of the few who could be affectionately referred to as 
a Commie.  It was evident that he put thought into his words; they came out 
with a certain articulate flair.  I was the one there for the love of 
mathematics, spending my days learning about Chaos theory, Euclidean 
geometry, and the mathematical relevance of the next Beavercreek Popcorn 
Festival.  We both had been chosen to come to the Governor's Honor Program 
that summer by teachers who were under the impression that we would truly 
enjoy, and benefit from, the experience that was being offered.  But it was 
not some theorem that would stay with me forever.  During that long, hot 
summer I formed a knowledge of myself that I will never forget.

As I sat in the shade of the sole tree of West Lawn, I thought about the 
way that the summer had affected me.  When we had moved, I informed my 
friend that it was because "It's 17 degrees cooler in the shade."  It 
was characteristic, I realized; I love learning new stuff and having new 
random facts to spew at inopportune times.  I love saying things that 
make people think twice.  But I like myself best when I can stop and 
contemplate what's going on around me, silly teenage thoughts don't pervade 
my mind, and I can think myself to be intellectual.

That Saturday afternoon on a grassy quadrangle in middle Georgia a Commie and 
a math major sat in the shade of a lonely willow, and talked during the 
long hours. We reflected upon the effect that we had made on people thus far 
in life, and the effects we were planning on making.  We made an oath: never 
to forsake our quest for knowledge, and never to give up on the capability 
we have of having as much fun as possible in a given situation.  I've come 
to the realization that as long as I hold onto those qualities, I can live up 
to the quotation with which Doannie filled the last space on my bookbag: 
"To thine own self be true."