Trying to make sense in the midst of this nonsense

What happened in Boston today might be minor compared to what happens or happened in many of the countries that you are from. But since every life is precious and every lost life leaves an immeasurable void, I just could not help but stop and think what matters in life. In the midst of such great nonsense, only what truly matters keeps us hopeful and strong.

The confluence of today’s tragedy and my recent birthday made me ridiculously homesick, despite the fact that I call myself a global citizen and always claim to be open for the next adventure. Nonetheless, missing my family and friends back home, or wherever they are, also made me appreciate all the great things I have going, without which feeling homesick would have made me much hopeless. Despite my very critical attitude towards HBS and what I call this very shallow culture, the HBS experience has helped me grow and learn a lot about myself. In these past months, some of you have called me genuine, smart, kind, insecure, control freak, too apologetic. And all of that is somehow true. However, the only word that matters is “friend”. Some of you might have said it out loud, some of you might have implied it with your gestures, some of you might have meant it more than others.

I used to believe that “friend” was a word with capital letters and a title very difficult to achieve. Today I believe that there are as many definitions of friendships as number of friendships there are in the world. Some of them are stronger and everlasting, some of them as just temporary, a fleeting glimpse of happiness, an oasis that more often than not could turn into a mirage. In many different styles and degrees and with very different levels of trust and shared interests, you are all a piece of the puzzle that makes my HBS experience a happy one –when I see the glass half full-. You might have heard me say that I believe kindness can be translated in terms of lumens. That is, those who are good at heart have a special aura, a special brightness that I perceive… and all of you shine incredibly making a dark day as today as bright as it could ever be.

So I have nothing left but to say thank you for enlightening me with the warmth that lies in your heart and let me take a smaller or bigger glimpse into the richness of your souls. At the end of these two years I will most likely forget most of the cases and the class discussions, but I will never forget any of you because in many different and subtle ways you have carved into my soul helping me be the person I am today and the person I will be for the rest of my life.

Count on me for whatever you need and don’t forget to tell your love ones how you feel about them. This crazy life is too short and you only live once to tell the people you love that you love them, to hug your elderly one last time, to fix the strained relationships with your closest ones, to pamper yourself into sleeping late if you need to or to push yourself when you really want to achieve something.