OJCL Torch Winter 2023 | Page 15

disciplines more than the humanities (thus leaving only those who are truly interested), but nearly everyone at OJCL events I’ve met is passionate. Even those students who seem to have been forced to go to convention or fall forum, they were still passionate about something, even if it wasn’t necessarily the focus of our event.

Think about it. As far as I know, there isn’t another organization like the OJCL but with another subject at its core. The simple fact that hundreds of us go out to Columbus and devote our weekend to the classics and fellowship every year means something.

I’m not quite sure where I would be had I not been introduced to Latin, but I know I wouldn’t value our history nearly as much as I do today. History books often cut out the humanity in our history, and I didn’t truly understand that when I heard or read about events like Caesar’s campaign in Gaul, people like you and me not only lived through those events, but acted in them, altering the course of history forever. We’ve all thought about the future.

What will it look like? What will happen? I know not what the future holds in store forus, but we know how our past looks like. You may be wondering “Wait a second, Patrick, isn’t the past the exact opposite of the future?” and you would be right. However, we often limit ourselves to look from our present day to the past, but what about looking from the past to the present? As far as I know, people will be reading the authors of our age in the same way we read authors like Homer and Virgil today, as ancient writers. I study classics because looking into our deep past has opened a window into the far future.

Winter 2023

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