Authentic Orange

Submitted by Hannah Hinshaw
There are over 7 billion people on this planet and there is not one person out of those 7 billion that are exactly like you. You are all unique, different, and authentic. Authenticity is the way in which you are true to yourself and your personality. All of us here at Oregon State have a common goal at the end of our 4 years, to graduate. That however is not the concern, the question is how are you going to walk to Reser in your caps and gowns knowing that you are exactly who we want to be? Being Authentic isn’t a hobby or a life choice, it’s something that’s already in you but needs to come out and see the world.
From the moment you got accepted to Oregon State your future was changed, your minds altered, and your lives pushed in a new direction. You had to figure out what you were going to be. They make you pick a category from a drop down list of things like Engineering, Education, and Business. Your entire future with just the click of a button. Spanish philosopher Jose Ortega stated this with the idea of causa sui to the second power, (“Man has no nature” pg. 155, and lecture 4-5-15). This is determining what a person shall be. At Oregon State you have the struggles of making sure you are on the right path. In order to be authentic, you shouldn’t think about who you should be, but rather who you are now, that in turn will help you find who you should be. If you aren’t living the life you want, and expressing your thoughts and ideas there is no way you will find out who you will be, because that will never be the authentic you.
With that being said, existences precedes essence, this is existential theme number 1 (Lecture 4-14-15). Understanding that “your essence” or nature is a result of your choice. In college there are tons of choices that you have to make and each one is helping you become who you are. Finding your essence could be taking a class with a friend that is outside of your major, or deciding to study abroad because it’s something you’ve always wanted to try. Your essence is that thing that makes you special. Sometimes making the hard decisions like staying in to study instead of hanging out with friend’s shows you that you can be a hard worker. Certain decisions make you understand yourself and why you do things. It all helps you become an authentic beaver.
College is stressful on everyone, there are thousands of students walking around campus and sitting in the same lecture hall as you. You all have different stories but you are all in the same place. This can connect with Heideggers thoughts of “being-in-the-world” and the Greek word Dasein which means “being there” (Lecture 4-16-15). Each person is there, sitting in that old wooden chair that is so uncomfortable that our desk chairs in our dorms sound like a better place to be sitting. In college you can feel lost in a sea of people who are striving for similar objectives, so being there, and being you, are completely different. You can sit there and pretend to listen like every other student or you can figure out if this is something you are interested in learning about, is it something that could benefit you in the future? For some it may and for others it may not, the point is that doing what everybody else is doing isn’t going to get you where you want to be. To be an authentic beaver you need to be in the world but under your rules, not anybody else’s.
Authenticity, who you are. The way you’re living your life right now in this moment. Being an authentic beaver can be difficult, you need to think about who you are right now and decide if you are on the right path to who you are going to be. You should understand that “your essence” isn’t something to be afraid of but something to embrace because it is yours and nobody else has it or can take it from you. You should now that being in the world is a gift, we don’t let gifts sit on the counter we pick them up and use them to our advantage, we make something of them. Making something of ourselves while going through the struggles of college and finding our way is what it means to be an authentic beaver.