[464 Editorial] Life Starts All Over Again When It Gets Crisp in the Fall

   It is back-to school season, and students are returning to campus, leaving the hot and humid summer behind. Back in June, heading into the two-month-long summer break, I assume many students had big plans for the break time. Did we achieve them all? Probably not. 

   Entering into the fall semester, maybe some are regretting the summer they spent, thinking, "I should have used my time better." Maybe some, including me, are even turning back time way further than the just-passed summer break, still thinking about all the things that happened, about all the choices and mistakes they made in the past. 

   Perhaps instead of going back in time, some are struggling, figuring out what their future will look like. The fall semester is the second, thus the last semester of the academic year. The thought of freshmen becoming sophomores, sophomores becoming juniors, juniors becoming seniors, and seniors becoming graduates can be daunting. 

   However, maybe we are wrong. Maybe better things are coming our way. 

   "What will we do with ourselves this afternoon," cried Daisy, "and the day after that, and the next thirty years?"

   "Don't be morbid," Jordan said. "Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall."

   Maybe, just as Jordan told Daisy in the novel "The Great Gatsby," fall will be a new start for us. Maybe this fall, those who struggle with the past can move forward, and those who worry about the future can come back to the present moment. 

   Maybe this fall will be different, for you, for me, and for all of us. Maybe, as I dearly hope, our hard times will pass just like the summer's heat.