In the 13th century, Sufi poet Rumi wrote, “What you seek is seeking you.” At Emory University, students seek many things. From faraway cities to nearby neighborhoods, we all come to college with meticulously crafted goals and big dreams, trusting that by selecting this school, we choose a path to propel us one step closer to our aspirations.
Yet, Emory is not always the easiest place to be. Mistakes are inevitable, and often, things do not work out the way we anticipated. It is scary when our best-laid plans go awry, but the most meaningful moments — the ones that allow us to really grow — sometimes arise from sheer happenstance. A slow elevator can result in meeting a lifelong friend in Harris Hall. A seemingly futile general education requirement can catalyze a change in career path. A missed shuttle departing from Oxford College’s Fleming Lot can elicit resilience and self-confidence. Director Peter Chelsom captured this sentiment best in his film “Serendipity” (2001). During the movie, Dean Kansky (Jeremy Piven) writes to his best friend that “life is not merely a series of meaningless accidents or coincidences … but rather, it’s a tapestry of acts that culminate in an exquisite, sublime plan.”
That quote, to us, as opinion editors, represents the essence of the college experience. A few years shy of entering the professional world, it’s not uncommon for college students to feel like the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time. But, in this year’s special project, the opinion section aims to shed light on serendipitous memories, the ones that changed us for the better by some fortuitous stroke of luck. These compiled submissions from the Emory community are the rare, glittering moments when the cards play out, the stars align and the world suddenly becomes crystal clear. These are the stories that give us hope. This is “Serendipity: Let the wheels of fate spin.” What you seek is indeed seeking you.
Articles
Storytelling persists: An opinion editor’s swan song
By: Safa Wahidi
As my tenure comes to an end, I consider it a stroke of luck to have been tasked with safeguarding the right to share meaningful storytelling, especially during this divisive time. In the face of political shifts and challenges in the media landscape, I still believe that dedicated storytelling must persist.
Embrace spontaneity in small moments
By: Ethan Jacobs
I know I may never have an epiphanic moment that convinces me to pursue a specific career path or major — instead, I will keep following my gut and manufacturing my own serendipity, whatever that means for my future.
Seek discomfort through strokes of luck — and teary elevator rides
By: Chloe Nam
Reflecting on it now, it feels like fate that we ever became friends. When we met, we did not share a single class together, our schedules never aligned and we came from opposite sides of the country. I like to think our elevator incident drew us together.
Peace is a short walk away: How I found joy in making music at Emory
By: Olivia Stanley
Hopping my way across campus and into the Schwartz Center elevator, I let the hour-long writing session distract me from the blisters on my hands and the bulky black boot strapped to my leg. I was not a music student, nor had I yet pursued any music-related extracurriculars, but finding that piano was pure serendipity.
Look to Wonderful Wednesday for poetic timing
By: Sara Garg
As I explore who I am as a writer, I continue to grow and change. Just when it seems like I have outgrown writing or that my poetry-writing days are done, serendipity strikes.
One step behind, one grade ahead: Sometimes being passionate is just enough
By: Marielle Munakwa
It was lucky that I was late to my presentation that day, or I may have never seen how my passion for anthropology allowed me to succeed in an unprepared presentation.
From numbers to narratives: My path to sociology
By: Zoe Grotjan
Nothing can relate to the sweet moment of serendipity when you finally understand someone whom you have been longing to know just the slightest bit better, even if that person is yourself.
Illustrations by Ivana Chen
