The Light of Knowledge

Chapter three, in which some things are forever

All times I have enjoy'd

Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those

That loved me, and alone, on shore

[...]

I am become a name;

For always roaming with a hungry heart

Much have I seen and known; cities of men

And manners, climates, councils, governments,

Myself not least, but honour'd of them all;

And drunk delight of battle with my peers,

Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.

I am a part of all that I have met;

Yet all experience is an arch wherethro'

Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades

Forever and forever when I move.

How dull it is to pause, to make an end,

To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use!

As tho' to breathe were life! Life piled on life

Were all too little, and of one to me

Little remains: but every hour is saved

From that eternal silence, something more,

A bringer of new things; and vile it were

For some three suns to store and hoard myself,

And this gray spirit yearning in desire

To follow knowledge like a sinking star,

Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.

[...]

Come, my friends,

'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.

Push off, and sitting well in order smite

The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds

To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths

Of all the western stars, until I die.

It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:

It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,

And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.

Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'

We are not now that strength which in old days

Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;

One equal temper of heroic hearts,

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

-excerpts from „Ulysses" by Alfred Lord Tennyson

„That's it. Somebody has to cut my hair." „What?" „It's driving me crazy." We're sitting in the common room, the autumn wind makes the blinds rattle and for the seventh time, my hair has fallen onto my homework and smudged the ink. I'm so annoyed, it's not even funny. Knox gives me an uncomprehending look. „What's wrong with your hair?" „It's too long, it's always in the way, I've been wanting to cut it for so long." Now Cameron looks up from his work and frowns. „Don't you think Nolan wouldn't allow that? I mean, maybe the Eisenhower-scholar shouldn't look, well, exactly like us others." He gestures at my uniform. Much to my satisfaction, the promised skirts haven't arrived yet. „I'm still a girl when my hair's short", I say, even though I'm kind of worried now. I wouldn't put it past Nolan to give me detention for cutting off my curls. My sudden doubt must be showing on my face, because Charlie walks over to me and lets his scissors click. „Hair grows back. And once it's off, what can he do?" I nod. „Or just let me do it and then say I messed it up and cut it too short." „Charlie, I mean this in the best way possible, but you're the last person I would ever trust with my hair." Meeks puts away the antenna on which he has been fiddling about all night. „How short do you want it, anyway?" I make vague gestures around my head and he smiles. „I think I could cut your hair. I've done it for my little sister a few times." „Great! When?"„Not tonight. How about tomorrow after class?" „That would be perfect. I mean, usually I use that time to copy over my classnotes", I shoot Charlie a look, „but it's been pointed out to me that that's, you know, insane." „I said quirky." „You said insane. Right to my face."