I don't know if I am the only one that feels this way, but the TCU library sure does a great job at making me feel insignificant. Specifically, it does a great job at making my knowledge of the world feel insignificant. As I walked through the rows and rows of periodicals, I couldn't help but think about the great quantities if ideas and information, both of the important and unimportant varieties. Did anyone else wonder through the scientific periodicals in the basement? Here I am, a Calculus 3 student, sitting on my imaginative throne of math superiority, when I stumble upon thousands of books on fields of mathematics that I have never heard of. Socrates was right, the smartest man is the man that knows he knows nothing.
Anyways, back to the focus of this blog. After much indecision, I ended up choosing to look through a 1937 edition of Life magazine. I scanned the pages for anything relevant to coming of age. It was difficult. I have found that when it comes to certain subjects, the more time you spend learning about them the more you become confused. Coming of age is this kind of subject.
I finally found a suiting article (in my mind anyways) titled "At Harvard Law School the Work is Hard but the Rewards are High". It is an odd title by today's standards. Today, articles have titles that tell you little about the material. Back then, however, titles were long and descriptive.
I would go about summarizing the article, but the title really does a great job at it. It was more or less a picture essay about the life of a Harvard Law School student. Many of the pictures featured classrooms full of young men in suits. Others showed students hard at studying, surrounded by several books. Under each picture was a paragraph or two describing the importance of each photo.
The most interesting thing that I took from the article was that all men wore suits to class and everywhere else imaginable. I understand that this was Harvard Law, but it is fascinating that they even wore suits to late night study sessions at the library. I guess that men just dressed up more in the 1930's, a trend that I am happy to be relieved of today.
One particular photo was of a man named Edwin Emmet Huddleson Jr. The description paragraph talked about the elite and highly esteemed position of editor of The Harvard Law Review. Mr. Huddleson served this position. The article mentioned that Mr. Huddleson's position was surely an indicator of his promising future as a highly successful lawyer. I took a fascination to Edwin Emmet Huddleson Jr. and decided to Google him, thinking that it would be fun to mentally write a follow up to the long and forgotten article. The Google results sadly returned nothing. Edwin Emmet Huddleson Jr., once editor of The Harvard Law Review, was a forgotten name. I concluded that he probably did end up with a high paying job with a highly esteemed title. He probably lived a happy and successful life. But alas, the omniscient Google had no knowledge of him.
What does that say about my life? I will probably never hold as great of a position as Edwin Emmet Huddleson Jr. I'm not a Harvard Law student. I don't even go to an Ivy League University. Am I destined to be an un-Google-able name in 100 years? Possibly. Likely even.
Where is Candide's optimism when you need it?
Hi Austin, Enjoyed your post, especially the beginning. Certainly it's a wise insight to realize how little we know. I enjoyed your description of the Harvard Law School piece. Going to class every day in a suit. Now that sounds interesting! Thanks for posting. dw
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