“Just Before the Dawn”: A Call for Hope as UL Confronts Its Darkest Hour

Published: September 29, 2025

There’s a saying that “the darkest hour is just before the dawn.” I often remind myself of that saying when things feel hopeless or stuck. When I watch the videos that students post online about the state of the University of Liberia’s buildings, knowing how much it will cost to fix them – or, better yet, build brand new buildings – I think about that saying. When I listen to talented yet exasperated faculty with advanced degrees cry about the paucity of their salaries, knowing how much they could be making if they worked outside Liberia and how much they should be making, even though they do, thankfully, work in Liberia – I think about that saying. When I sit down with demoralized staff who can barely do their jobs due to the lack of necessary equipment, whether laptops for administrators processing admissions and registration or logistics for campus security officers who are trying to keep campus safe and secure – I think about that saying. In my own experience, dawn always comes.

I learned long ago that, no matter how bad things are when you go to bed at night, every morning, the sun rises and the birds sing. It is a reminder that renewal is always just around the corner. But you have to tune into it. You can choose to wake up in the morning and focus on last night’s problems, or you can wake up and embrace the new day’s possibilities. I always choose the latter. And that choice has always produced good things.

With regard to the University of Liberia, it is common to focus on yesterday’s problems, to talk about how things have always been. Yet, every new president is a new chance for a new day, and every academic year is a new chance at a new day, and every new semester (even Vacation School!) is a new chance at a new day. Likewise, every new class of freshman is a new chance at a new day (yes, you too, sophomores and juniors – even you, grad and professional students!), and every new graduating class is a new chance at a new day, and every new student government is a new chance at a new day.

The truth is, every day and every moment is a new chance at new choices and new outcomes. If the arrow of your life and hope is pointed forward, towards the horizon, towards the sky, towards your hopes and aspirations, you will fly somewhere. But the moment you look down or look back, you start to descend or reverse. It is a habit of mind to stay positive – not in a way that is unrealistic, but in way that recognizes that, in this universe, on this earth, darkness always eventually gives way to light – Lux in Tenebris – and we must train our eyes to see it and seek it. Dawn is around the corner for us!