NIL Mari Miyoshi

Personal Statement

I have sworn on my biology textbook instead of the Bible since my sophomore year because I have an obsession with truth. After reading The Sound and the Fury a month ago I thought that I had the truth of mankind in terms of the universe figured out: that the Earth, being small and temporary, and humans, being smaller and more temporary, were inconsequential. I had no empirical evidence to back up my belief, but for once I felt that I didn’t need any. Life as a meaningless nanosecond made more sense than any other explanation that I had heard. I decided that it is just the pretension of the human race to believe that our actions hold such great importance.

The following weekend those bleak thoughts still ran through my somber yet self-righteous mind, so I went for a walk on the beach to think things through. Towards the far end of the shore I saw yellow caution tape enclosing what appeared to be a large brown sausage. Curiosity quickened my pace until the sausage transformed into the first monk seal that I had ever seen. I was overcome by the power that lay dormant in its beautiful sleeping body, and as I observed from a respectful distance, I noticed some odd markings near the seal’s tail. When I got closer I...