Michelle Ho, class of 2026
We emerge into this world free of blemish and flaw, brimming with possibilities and dreams to be had. There is no limit; we yield unbridled freedom to soar high with the birds, carried by the winds of opportunity. We, as in the young, the fresh, the innocent of mind and curious of life, are limitless. The gift of time and youth maximizes our ability to reach our full potential.
Potential.
Placing an air-tight cap on potential for growth and change squeezes one into a conventional, person-shaped shell. To be uncapped is to allow the ideas and thoughts to escape, like air swooshing out of a balloon and propelling it through the open atmosphere with a squeal of glee.
But that liberation is dangerous, and often out of our control. One change in the wind, one shift in the velocity as the air escapes its latex confines, and the squeals of euphoria can quickly become cries of dismay as the balloon shoots downward and hits the floor, abruptly ending its soaring freedom in a deflated and anticlimactic heap on the ground.
Our potential goes both ways. No limit caps our skill, knowledge, or talent. But no limit exists to minimize our flaws, either. Unbounded in both failure and success, each choice we make can send us plummeting out of free skies into an endless abyss—or is it a free abyss and endless skies? I can’t say for sure.
Do not fear limitlessness; it is often the bearer of unimaginable possibilities. If life seems to head in one direction, don’t be alarmed; there are no limits no matter where you go.
When I first read this Issue’s theme, instead of envisioning possibilities and hope, I actually felt anxious. The thought of being limitless, to have the freedom to be both a success and a failure, made me feel small and powerless in comparison. This inspired me to write about my view of what it means to be limitless and embrace the positivity it attributes to the abundance of life’s pathways.