Trinity is a magical place.
Not only is there something inherently whimsical about the Elizabethan granite colossuses, but the place itself also brims with the fulfilled ambitions of its past students and the potential of its future ones.
Senator Aubrey McCarthy has had the privilege of knowing what it feels like to stand on both sides of that dichotomy. Even now, thirty-two years after joining the ranks of notable Trinity alumni, he can still recall the spell-binding, yet terrifying feeling of walking through the front gate for the first time:
“When you walk into Trinity, it’s like walking into the Houses of Parliament – you’re in these hallowed halls and you ask yourself, you know, ’who the hell am I to even be here?’ You do feel like you’re on your own in the Big Smoke.”
But that initial terror and imposter-syndrome inflicted by Trinity’s grandeur soon wears off. The antidote, McCarthy tells me, is to ”get in with people who are going to drive you.
“If you want to build a rocket to go to the moon, get in with people who believe that you’re going to actually do it – even if you never do,” he says.
While entering Trinity means standing on the shoulders of giants, McCarthy highlights that it’s the people who are here now that make Trinity what it is. ”Live every fecking day,” he tells me, illustrating the importance of the present by making an unexpected reference to the 1989 classic, Dead Poets Society.
In the scene Robin Williams, playing the role of John Keating, takes the students into a foyer of the college and asks them to look into the trophy cupboards.
“All of these students were game changers. They were people who led their industries, led their sports. Today, where are they? They’re fertilizer for worms, they’re pushing up daffodils, they’re all dead. If anything, look at them and ask yourself ‘what are they saying?’, and you know what he [John Keating] says?” McCarthy recollects, paraphrasing Robin Williams’ speech.
“He says ’Carpe Diem’ – seize the day – and it always reminded me of Trinity.
“No matter what you’ve got, no matter what mountain you’ve climbed, or what you’ve achieved, always live deliberately, live for the day.”
In other words: enjoy the magic while it lasts.
And, dear freshers, I know that living in the moment is far easier said than done. So for now, to help you along, I’ll leave you with Senator McCarthy’s final words of advice:
“Eat, drink, and be merry. Get out, have fun, enjoy yourself, but keep the important things important. Don’t lose family, don’t lose friends – and don’t go too hard on the beer.”
