Traditionally, my column has represented a very detached view of socio-political issues involving the Iowa State community and the country as a whole. For today’s column (which will be one of my last as an Iowa State Daily columnist), I would like to focus on a far less tangible, but all too important, aspect of life in general.

In life there are individuals who protect and nurture development. This responsibility usually grows far beyond merely providing food and shelter and eventually moves into the area of advice and guidance.

For parents and guardians the job is an allotted one, difficult to shirk and hard to comprehend. Teachers also face such responsibility, although their power to shape young lives is traditionally underestimated.

In either case, the issue and roles are clearly defined in the construction and destruction of young minds.

Perhaps the most difficult part of raising a child is the creation of personality. Regardless of data that says personality stems from genetics, there is a component put in place by interacting with other people.

Nurturers provide children with instructions, not just about life, but about themselves. To constantly correct a child and constantly manipulate their every effort is to undermine the uninhibited processes that will eventually become confidence.

As a child develops, they gauge the world around them based on their family life. It is the responsibility of care givers to ensure the child is able to view the world as part of a whole, not as more or less than it really is.

Such beliefs result in a lack of balance in the child’s mind, which in turn will hinder their attempts at becoming their own person.

Confidence is something people tend to lose as they age.

It comes from the true pain of surviving the countless boots to the face that is daily routine.

When we fail a test, lose a loved one or get fired from a job, it is a hardship that makes us more cautious and less inclined to dream. In a world that honors the pragmatist, it is hard to be a dreamer. However, it is the dreamer that saves us all; it is the dreamer who is the visionary.

Beyond what will get us by, there is something that will make us better; however, it does not come from the status quo. It comes from the questioning and exploration of our universe.

Beyond the swoosh logos and catchy “Just Do It” phrases, there lies in the human spirit a genuine desire compelling some individuals. This must be celebrated. Such effort is not rewarded with championships or trophies, but instead acts as the very life blood that drives some people, of any gender or socio-economic status, to not just do their best, but do far beyond anything they ever thought possible.

This is not the easier road. It is uncharted territory moving each of us beyond our current selves and into a next step.

Reality can be painful, but to concede the transcendence of the pain to only those who can run really fast, or jump really high is to corrupt the very nature of heroes. They are examples, not exceptions.

The most vital component of any individual’s existence is that particular ingredient in one’s make-up which provides the shield all citizens must carry with them — self- confidence. It enables each of us to survive even the most brutal of attacks to what we hold dear.

In addition to offering shelter, self-confidence enables each and every one of us to be brave, brave in the everyday and the Olympic senses.

Confidence is often synonymous with courage, as it should be, since one is certainly born out of the other. Most importantly, however, it is imperative to recognize confidence does not require the subjugation or destruction of anyone else.

To live life is to embrace the beauty that is the potential in each and every one of us.

Living does not require we each climb a mountain or win a road race or win the NBA championship.

The art of living only requires that we engage our lives as we see fit, with all the components: love, death, loss and regret. Whether we fail or succeed, as each of us sees it, we should celebrate each citizen as they strive and catch each citizen as they fall.

I cannot promise any rewards or that there will not be pain. But I do know as we each live, for a sunrise, or a college degree or a poem, we are celebrating one another, and that is what we should all be doing.

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Zuri Jerdon is a senior in English from Cincinnati.