“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
I look at the rest of my life as one big bonus round. The decade I spent flying fighters in the Navy was a childhood dream come true – more than I ever could have asked for. But I left the Navy feeling an obligation placed on me by terrible chance – the loss of friends whose lives ended far too soon – lives that were often smarter, wiser and more honorable than mine. With each loss, I determined to become a better person, trying to make up to the world for the loss of such great people. I often fail but will always try.

I strive to bring people of very different mindsets together to help them appreciate how much they have in common and to respect or even celebrate that which makes them different. I would love to do this on a grand scale as a diplomat, helping to resolve conflict throughout the world. Whether this ends up as my path or I walk another, less visible one, I will be happy so long as I can do some of the good left undone by those who sacrificed their lives so that we may live ours to their fullest.

I'm a very lucky man for all I've been given and those whom I've met. They've all shown me how fun life is and how much I've yet to learn. I don't want any positive thought to go unsaid or someone to not know how important they are. A quote from a favorite movie – Breaker Morant - serves as my guide: "Live every day as though it were your last – one day you're sure to be right."

— Carl Petty

The Portrait Project

Each year we ask our classmates a straightforward, simple question taken from the lines of a poem by Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Mary Oliver. We share with you intimate and candid responses to this question, "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"

Concept and photography: Tony Deifell, MBA '02

More Portrait Project