“He was a very solitary man and I totally respect that… Having alone time is a necessary thing.”

Hold a Conversation

Can you imagine leading a conversation about this story? Where? With whom? What kinds of questions would you pose? (See How to use the questions for reflection for one approach.) Please email your questions to us or post them in the comment box for our consideration. If you use them in an actual discussion, let us know how the conversation went.

Transcript for A Solitary Lens

The vast majority of Valpo students are white, middle to upper-middle class students, usually of Western European descent.  We’re all like-minded, and they come together to share common ideas and intellect, and for the social aspect of the Valparaiso experience of a smaller, close-knit community providing still the opportunities of a larger university with the programs we offer.

Being an only child…different.  Very much so, different.  I grew up playing by myself when I was young.  I was always out in the woods by myself playing Ghosts in the Graveyard and pretending I was in the show Hocus Pocus.

My past roommate, he was from Korea, and we actually got along pretty well.  He was a different kind of guy.  He was very quiet, he never really went to class much, but he was a very smart guy—one of the smartest guys I’ve ever met.  He unfortunately had to return home at the end of this past semester or shortly afterwards because he had to go into military service back in Korea.  I was a little sad to see him go, at the same time it was nice to have my own room, and his sleep schedule was a little bit obnoxious, so I’m not going to complain.

He was completely and utterly nocturnal.  He would sleep during the day and do all of his homework—well, actually he never really did homework.  That’s the other reason why he had to go back home—because he never did homework.  Whenever I was trying to go to sleep, he’d be on his computer, gaming and looking at high fashion back in Korea and buying things.  He was definitely more of a loner—he wasn’t an only child though, but since he was the only Korean student here on the—or he was the only Korean student on the campus… There are no Korean students here on the campus; there’s only Japanese, and Chinese, and Thai students.  There are no more Koreans here on the campus.  He was a little bit alone by himself here because he was the only Korean one here.  He was a very solitary kind of man.  And I totally respect that because I can reflect that upon myself.  Having some alone time is a necessary thing, and he definitely appreciated that, and I think that’s all he had, because he didn’t have too many friends here on the campus.

But in life today, and in college, I think being an only child is kind of a special thing, almost kind of a fun thing, because you can be—you can go up to be people and be like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m an only child.’  You don’t really see too many only child—only children these days.  So it’s a treat, but at the same time, it provides you a very different perspective on the world.  It allows you to view things through a little more of a solitary lens…