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Tuesday, March 31, 2026
The Observer

Opinion





The Observer

Choosing hope in invisible illness

A year out of ND, I have seen and heard about the invisible illness campaign at ND that just occurred. As a former Ryan Hall RA, I have the privilege of knowing three of the beautiful “Invisilillies,” and was touched by their openness and effort to make this campaign possible. Miles from campus, I could almost feel the relief of these brave students in giving voice to their inner burdens, and doing it in a way that educated and promoted seeing past the exterior of every person on campus. My time at ND showed me again and again how important it is to see beyond the exterior of an extremely put together and successful student to understand that we all have stories, many of them painful.












The Observer

Not your everyday hero

A favorite author of mine once wrote, “As you get older it is harder to have heroes, but it is sort of necessary.” Growing up, I remember often being asked, simply, who my hero was. I traditionally defaulted to one of many people I admired in my life for the roles they played and the lessons they taught me. Fast forward some years later, and I began to realize the truth of that quote. Well, sort of. It wasn’t so much that the people I once considered heroes had changed or that their importance dwindled. It wasn’t that it became more difficult to have heroes. Rather, it was an epiphany of their necessity in my life.