Never Learned How To Say Good-Bye

By Mark Piper

There are a lot of ways of saying “this is the end.” Porky Pig, at the end of Looney Tune Cartoons would say “that’s all folks,” the VonTrapp children in the Sound of Music made a seven minute song just to say farewell, and Jesus Christ said fairly succinctly, “it is finished.” However, he died shortly thereafter so I think perhaps I’ll venture my own way of saying this is the end, as I have no intention of becoming a pig, traversing the Swiss countryside to avoid Nazis or be nailed to a cross at this particular time.

I couldn’t really think of my own however. But I did remember a little song by Bob Hope that turned out to be the trademark of his career titled “Thanks For The Memories.” And I think that is the sentiment that I am left with, and that is how I’d like to say au revoir, thanks for the memories.

You know, memory translates to French as souvenir. Funny thing. Any time we go somewhere, whether it is a family vacation, a weekend a way or maybe four years as an undergrad, we always want to take back souvenirs with us. Well I suppose in the truest form of the French word souvenir, I’ll do just that. For if souvenirs are memories, by gosh I have a slew of ‘em.
Overall, those souvenirs or memories are positive.

Now, I am not going to get too nostalgic, but by gum four years flew by faster than anything I could have ever imagined. And now just as quick as I’m saying good-bye, I’m forced to say hello to the “adult world.” A world in which student loan payments come due, a world where I must find a job with 9 percent unemployment, a world that gets more complicated, convoluted and discombobulated on an hourly basis. I will not be too far away next year; I’ll be doing a year of volunteer service for Amate House here in Chicago. But I’m still having trouble believing it is time to take my memories with me and part ways with Saint X.

And so I’ve come to the end. Coincidentally, the end of this blog, and the end of my Saint Xavier career. I’d say tune in next time, but it won’t be the same bat time, same bat channel ever again. All the best.

Mark Piper is a senior political science major with a minor in pastoral ministry. He is from Stoughton, WI and is president of the Student Government Association. Consideration for the student bloggers is provided by Saint Xavier University.