I love this quote rendered
by President Franklin D. Roosevelt at his first Inaugural Address in 1933. He
summed up the perfect approach to life in one sentence. The only way to lead a successful
life to its full potential and enjoy a lack of regrets is to live each day to
the fullest and to put your best foot forward. I know it is a bit confusing
when you think about it and kind of an oxymoron, but the message (from my
understanding) is that the only thing you should ever be afraid of is being afraid.
If you’re afraid of being afraid then you essentially are afraid…the point is,
don’t be afraid! Fear will prevent you from attempting the, potentially, most
life-altering opportunities you may come across and simply leave you with
regrets. Fear is psychological choice.
As a rising senior
being presented with so many life-altering decisions, there is a lot to be afraid
of. At the end of this past school year I decided that I had to partake in some
serious self-discovery this summer; at this point I can say that I am on the
journey to self-discovery, one of which will end in a mind-blowing epiphany. I
have decided to go with my gut feeling as often as possible because thinking (which
I think I often overdo) can make some intimidating things seem scarier than
they should be. (This was a mini epiphany I had at Vassar this afternoon.)
Today my cohort and I
took the train from the Pennsylvania Station to Poughkeepsie. The train ride
was gorgeous. The route from New York City to Poughkeepsie is right along the
Hudson River. In addition to the gorgeous weather, the view from the train was marvelous.
I know people have said that the river was big but the river is big! It is much
larger than I had imagined. It looks like the Bay in California.
Once in Poughkeepsie we
took a taxi to Hyde Park, the home of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s estate. We toured
a small portion of the estate including the rose garden where he and Eleanor
are buried. A majority of the tour was in his home. Although Franklin’s branch
of the Roosevelts (there are several branches of the family, one of which being that of Theodore Roosevelt's) is a wealthy family with an
old name, the home was not meant to display wealth (such as a mansion) it was a
home. The dark wood, carpets, and furnishings gave the house a very
homey/comforting feel. It was beautiful. The tour guide also provided many
details about the Presidents that you may not know, such as: did you know that
Franklin’s wife Eleanor was the niece of President Theodore Roosevelt, his fifth
cousin?
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| Hyde Park including FDR's home and final resting place |
After venturing through
the small museum in Hyde Park and watching a 20 minute video on the President
we took a taxi to Vassar College. We attended an info session which was almost
identical to that of Sarah Lawrence and UPenn minus specific curriculum. Then
we went on the tour; the tours are the best and most informative part of
visiting a college. The campus is huge and magnificently stunning. I really
like the feel of it, and the look is astounding. It is like there are mini
castles everywhere. The library is breathtaking; I wouldn’t mind spending hours
in there.
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| Vassar |
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| Amazing Broadway bound performers |
After Vassar we took
the train back into the city. After all the amazing things that I learned and
saw today, is it bad that dinner was the highlight of my day? As someone who
wishes to be an actress and in the performing arts, dining at Ellen’s Stardust
Diner was quite the experience for me. I don’t think I have ever been to such
an entertaining restaurant. Not only was the food good but so were the
performances. At the Stardust Diner all of the waiters and waitresses are
people who moved to New York City with the dream of being on Broadway. Because
they are not on Broadway they are stereotypically serving food, but in a very
unique and fun way. They all take turns singing and performing while on their
shifts serving food; my mind was blown for the second time today. I loved it
and would love to go back.
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| Anmol with a Stardust singer |
Tomorrow we visit Yale!
The alumni that we had dinner with the other day got me really excited for this
school.
All three of the Roosevelts are so extremely interesting.
ReplyDeleteWhile you suggest that TR’s side of the family wasn’t as “rich”, they didn’t have to worry about putting food on the table. For instance, the Nobel Peace Prize that TR was awarded in 1906 had a $40,000 cash prize attached. Although that may not be a whole lot of money today, it had the buying power of slightly more than $1 million in 2013. His award did nit go in his pocket, however, and was used to further peace efforts more than a decade later.
FDR was paid $70,000 per year in 1933 as President which has the buying power today of $1,125,000 today (compared to the recently doubled Presidential salary today of $400,000 per year. [In his 13 years as President, FDR earned, in 2013 dollars--about $16 million. You could almost live off of that.
I didn't compare them in terms of how rich each family was, I meant to differentiate between the several Roosevelt family branches by giving TR as an example since he is so widely known.
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