Brown University - Liber Brunensis Yearbook (Providence, RI)

Page 9 text:

When we were but childrenat least before coming to Brownwe could sit alone and pon- der about the world. Everything was strange and seemed complex to our innocent eyes, but we had the time and the inclination to ask questions. We asked Why? and Why not? and usually we were answered ''Because. But then these childish questions and answers were enough. We saw the sky and knew that it was and should be blue. Yet when it blazed with color at twilight or turned gray at an impending storm, we were secure in the knowledge that soonprobably tomorrowit would safely be blue again. In our naked guileless youth, we could climb trees and seek out the world and the sun. At the horizon line our world ended, but we were a part of it and likewise it was us. But much as we would soar in the boundless visions and dreams of our eyes, each of us was brought back to earth by growth and maturity. And with this came the awareness that our questioning out of sheer curiosity was not, and could never be, enough. Now as we grew the world changed from the simplistic Neverneverland we had known to a strange and often frightening place, and out of this knowledge of change grew our desire to master this world so we could once again climb trees with safety and security. For this we sought new meaningful answers to old guestions. Brown is one of the new lands we explore. We stay for only a short four years, but perhaps this is enough to teach us and allow us to re- turn to a new knowledgeable state of innocence. Then again, perhaps it is not.