“You’ve stepped back and thought about the world and asked, “Am I satisfied with what I’m doing? Am I doing the right thing? Am I missing the opportunity to learn? Am I pushing myself enough to do better?”

These were the questions Professor Mahmoud Haidar asked us Baret Scholars at the Morning Program is Istanbul. Mahmoud, who has in his wide-ranging career been a Professor of Political Science at the American University of Beirut as well as an inspiration to scores of students, spoke to us of the importance of deep, lifelong learning.

In conversation with Fellow Omar Knio, his former student, he argued for openness and curiosity. “You have a tool, that is your mind,” he said, “that is capable of seeing much more than one subject: overcome your fear of new subjects so you can find new passions. Learning is a beautiful journey when it comes out of passion and interest.” As Scholars, we felt that in our bones. We want to bring the same passion to the rest of our lives as we’ve brought to our year with Baret.  But as our education system has become more and more specialized, curiosity has been stifled, and  the withering of our curiosity is the withering of our potential.

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To overcome this obstacle, he proposed that we let the spirit that inspired our gap year become our philosophy: “Embrace this philosophy of taking a gap at any point in your life. Gap means: I’m taking a step back, thinking about what do I understand about this world? What do I feel about this world? What do I have a passion for in this world, so I can take the next step with a more enlightened mind?”

At his encouragement, we reflected on when we were our happiest, or most fulfilled. We asked ourselves: How could we build a life that maximized that fulfillment? How was happiness different from fulfillment? Or was it at all?

As if to answer our question, he made perhaps his most profound point: “the greatest joy we can have in life is when we give. When we give someone the chance to laugh. When we give someone the chance to love us. You see we are at our best when we are loved. We are in an even better situation when we start giving.”

We realized we are journeying across the world because we love it: not just its historic sites and markets and museums, but its people, in their joy, their passion, and in their suffering too. This same world has given us this opportunity to journey through it, to be a part of its dynamism and unimaginable complexity. The rest of our lives will be our chance to give back.

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