September: a month of disappointments or a month of excitements?

The name September originates from Latin, where septem means "seven" and septimus - "seventh"; September was in fact the seventh month of the Roman calendar until 153 BC. However, perhaps it is the case that the meaning that September bore in the lives of ordinary people held greater significance; thus, in Switzerland it is called “Herbstmonat”, harvest month. Even though we associate different images to the month September, inevitably it has some emotional appeal to us, humans. September, could it be called the month of great disappointments, or the month of great challenges?

For disappointments it is quite clear: September marks the end of the summer, the end of some long friendships, fun times spent at the beach and long talks with random people. The end of fun and the beginning of worries.

Nonetheless, we could say that it also marks great challenges, because it is the beginning of something new, confusing, exiting, and a little bit frightening. It is the month when school starts and it gathers the students in one same place, to something new and challenging. Boys and girls are once again walking into the building, where many of them will begin great friendships, where they will achieve knowledge and understanding.

The first graders, who are the youngest generation of us all, are perhaps most exited and tolerant to adjust to certain amount of change, and are just starting to walk along the road of fear, challenge, accomplishments, and achievements. The high school students are leaving behind their childhood and are starting on a new path that speaks of importance, morals, and responsibilities into something new and unknown, while they are walking through the hallways of their new schools, trying to find their way to their new classrooms and their new professors. Those that had already finished high school, have ended a big chapter in their lives, and are now opening a new notebook, where they alone will have to fill in the blank pages with new adventures, lifestyles, and friendships - college. College is the place where people begin to take care of themselves, and fly out of their mothers' nests to explore the world in ways they didn’t think possible. Some of these people might be unwilling to embrace the new challenges in their lives, finding resistance and fear of the unknown, and encountering some disappointments along the way to acceptance. Some are somewhat enthusiastic about the changes and challenges they are to face, the places they are going to explore, and the new lives they are going to live.

While December marks the actual end of the year, September is marking the end of something even greater, the end of some chapters in people’s lives, and also the beginning of something new, something worth embracing, worth exploring, and something worth living for; because what we may find along the way, might as well be better than we ever thought possible. Then as December nears, and all of us have our own wishes for the next year, we should ask for the next September to be more challenging than the previous, so that life doesn’t get boring.