The work of becoming...

I took last Thursday afternoon off from work. At least that is what I told the group of religion professors I found myself in conversation with that afternoon. I had taken the afternoon off from my job in the Office of Religious and Spiritual life to visit a friend who is dying. In the busyness of the semester, I had forgotten that the stuff of life often challenges our schedules and "to do" lists. I may have taken time off from work, but as one of my favorite Religion professors (we'll call her "Dr.L") reminded me as we talked in her office later that afternoon: "Well, you didn't really take the afternoon off from work. You were doing the human work, which is equally tiring."

Until last week, I had forgotten about the human work. I am a Social Work and Religion double major. I am nine months from graduation. I am surrounded by people every second of the day. I had forgotten about the human work. Erick Erickson's theory of human development suggests that our lives our divided into eight stages, and in each stage there are certain tasks that we must complete to move on to the next. It is one of the most basic and formative theories of human development, and as a social worker, the foundation of understanding where clients are coming from. But even Erickson had been rendered a textbook diagram in my mind.

My conversation with Dr. L brought me back to the humanness of life. The events of the past week had seemed unreal. I had learned on Monday that a friend was very ill, and three days later I was blessed to share some time with her again. By the time I walked in Dr. L's office I was exhausted, and I did not understand why until she reminded me that, though my calendar was clear, being human that day had been very, very difficult. Work is stressful, school is challenging, applying to grad schools is overwhelming, but some days being human is downright hard.

While I was in Dr. L's office last Thursday, two other professors joined our conversation. After Dr. L mentioned that I had been doing "the human work" that day, another of the professors said something that has been singing in my mind since then: "Ah, the never-ending process of becoming…" It summarized the week's work so well. I had almost forgotten that along with the assignments of work and school, I was deeply engaged in the task of becoming, and I could not put it off or avoid it.

In every moment of our lives we are becoming. And this tricky work of becoming cannot fit into our schedules, on a syllabus or during our office hours. I am grateful that the faculty of the Religion department have guided me through the challenges of academia and the hard work of being human. If I was supposed to learn the value of higher education in these four years, then, thanks to them, I have.