One of the draws that kept me in scouting was their backpacking program, otherwise known as carrying a campsite on one's back and hoofing it up mountains and such to look back and go "woah." That is the sort of challenge that is wonderful but the type where the pitfalls are unmarked, and the feedback is ambiguous on what crucial points were missed? No thank you. The goal for this term is to get through it, firstly. It has been a long time coming, 2.5 years longer than expected, but the anxiety is something that I learned to cope with and channel because of those two years. It has also given me a glimpse at the lower end of the white-collar spectrum of work and an appreciation for what it means to be part of the public face of a firm.

I enjoy the notion that maybe I was just born to the wrong century, but that is not entirely accurate. I long for a culture, a time that never was; all that which I aspire to be is based in part on these anachronistic, romanticized notions. In this, however, I take comfort since it is not in looking back that a fulfillment of these concerns with honor, honest dealing, lifelong learning, and personal development can be found but only through my own achievement going forward.

The fact that I am reading for a field which has been maligned through the actions of a select few, because of a single minded, myopic devotion to profits for the short term. The fact that some students at Harvard have taken it upon themselves to form an MBA code is good, business tends to have few common, recognized principles and for it often takes the brunt of ridicule and scorn. That I take my word seriously, for all my justifications and excuses at times, has made me less effective as a salesman but more effective as a partner. Businesses do not, in fact, serve only their shareholders, but a range of constituents on whom the firm relies for support. All agents, employees, are beholden to their office and thus directly to the shareholder-owner, but also indirectly serve that same interest in ensuring the firm's operational sustainability. Doctors and Lawyers have a custom of an oath for those who elect to take it, but I would prefer one at the undergraduate level since many of us have not historically gone on to graduate studies or, if we do, should have a firmer foundation.

There is a mercenary mindset which disgusts me among the halls, a distrust of notion of Corporate Social Responsibility as something that must come at the cost of efficiency and profit. Rarely is thought given to savings. Environmental conservatism has, for some firms, been a boon in granting the ability to streamline and economize inputs and thus benefit the firm through more cost-effective operations as well as lessening the environmental impact. Equitable relations with employees improves productivity, reduced turnover and its associated costs, and helps sustain a positive corporate culture. These things are not easily measured but do have an impact when looked at on the whole.