It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day

For the first time in history, the world is at peace. Heads of state the world over are taking to the podiums to announce that our world is now free from war, free from conflict and free from fear. The red arrows are due overhead any moment now, and even health and safety officials will desert their houses to hang brightly coloured bunting in the streets. Oh, and there’s free chocolate for everyone.

Apparently, this scenario isn’t how the current international political narrative is actually going. Look to the media for further information – apparently the natives of Japan are having a rough time of it, and apparently there’s a ‘situation’ in Syria. So why would anyone, even for a moment, believe that world peace had broken out? The answer, dear friends, lies on a hot summer’s afternoon, draped around the piazza, laughing.

Those of us who have finished our long, arduous university year are stretched out in the sun, enjoying a cold drink and the occasional cigarette, laughing and smiling with brighter eyes than even you can remember. There is an unavoidable atmosphere in the air at the moment, permeating into even the darkest of exam-tarnished hearts – something that feels distinctly like happiness.

There is nothing quite like it. The new among us have survived their first year of university. They have moved away from home and taken those first few steps down the proverbial paths of the rest of their lives. The oldest of us are due to say their goodbyes and leave Warwick campus behind, taking away only memories, and perhaps a liver that’s slightly worse-for-wear than it was a few years ago, and those in the middle are left to wonder: Were you too once so young and joyful, so awkward, yet so proud? Will you eventually leave this place gracefully, or give ‘em hell before you go?

For each of us, these are the days of our lives. They are our own worlds, moving forwards, growing and changing, towards the future. At this time of year, the sun and the smiles are bright, and for each of us a new day is beckoning. Don’t we then have the right to be happy? Do we not have the right to take solace in our own worlds, with a few close friends and our own contentment?

Not for a moment does it seem right to claim that the people of Japan are ‘having a rough time of it’, or to be so ignorant as to simplify Syria’s troubles to a ‘situation’, but whilst the national media seem intent on making you feel bad for not personally helping to resolve the world’s problems, the Boar disagrees. You deserve to smile.

It is a new day for each and every one of us. Whether that day yields your final exams or your final goodbyes, take comfort in the progression of your life, your world, your self. We are all growing up, and we are all soldiering on.

Your world, our world, this world: it’s a wonderful place. Don’t waste a second of it.