The Gadfly “To persuade and reproach” - Socrates, The Apology
Vol. IX, Iss. I September 9, 2008
The Closeness of Christ in Times of Death and Suffering As I write these words it has been less than one week since the accident which took the life of one of our students and injured several others. As I had no personal contact with the deceased and have had only the briefest of contact with the injured I would not presume to be able to comment on this tragedy directly. Thus I simply express on behalf of myself and the rest of the Gadfly staff our deepest sympathy and the assurance of our prayers to the families and friends of those directly affected by this unfortunate occurrence. It is also my wish as a member of the University community to take a few moments to consider moments of loss and trial, like the two student deaths that have occurred last spring and this fall, but also like the various moments of bereavement or other great suffering
that arise for each of us in our families and personal lives. What do these moments say to us, what are we to say about them? How can the presence of God be discovered in them, without our disguising or hiding from our legitimate grief? In such moments is perhaps the discovery of a sensation of God’s absence as fitting as it can be spontaneous? How can we relate to such a sensation if and when it arises? I can only humbly offer what minimal points of departure I have learned for answers to such questions in my own life. Moments such as these recall us to ourselves in ways we are often not inclined to appreciate. We remember things that have hurt us in the past, and perhaps ways we have hurt others or things we regret. It is doubtless important to be able to feel this sorrow, but
also it must not rule us. We must remember that God’s mercies are truly new every morning and that His grace is sufficient for ourselves and our loved ones. Our faith teaches us that God longs to pardon our sins, heal what we have done wrong, and to continue to bless and guide us through every trial. More than that we are recalled to the figure of Christ, not only Christ as the Lord of heaven and earth who holds all things even when they seem to have gone horribly wrong, or even only Christ as the shepherd who cares for us, but Christ who suffers with us and suffered for us and has been in the worst places of our lives and experiences before we get there – waiting so that He may lead us through them into the embrace of His God and Father, who has Continued on page 6
Domus Dei: Finding a Place to Lay Our Heads I would like to propose a new household to you, my fellow students. In the Spring 2008 semester when little housing was to be had, households which required only three people on wing to maintain their household common room were given ten beds on their wing. Students signed up for housing according to class rank except for those household members who were given priority. When seniors showed up at their time slot, all housing had already been assigned. Therefore, I propose to all others who, like me, are un-householded for various reasons and who feel as if they are second class or undesirable compared to those who are in households that we band together and form our own “household”. Here are some reasons why you may
have been un-householded before, and those of you who find yourselves reflected here are prime candidates to join. Many students do not join households because they value academics over extra-curricular activities and so simply do not have time. Perhaps you should sacrifice academics for household. Should not this interpretation of “dynamic orthodoxy” take precedence over academic excellence? Many do not join households because their spirituality is different than that commonly practiced by households and do not find households particularly conducive to their interior life. If one peruses through all the household activities, there are some who do have unique activities, like the Warriors who do bible study, but most of them seem to do the same things. How many households pray the rosary as a com-
mitment, for example? The rosary is not bad. Many people find it helpful, but God made people different to reflect and adore Him in different ways. Joining a household can be repugnant to those who prefer more of an interior life, do not pray the typical Catholic prayers (praying without a formula is possible!), and who do not feel called to broadcast their spiritual life (as Francis of Assisi seemed to feel) to others, just as many husbands and wives do not broadcast their love relationship to others. Many do not join households because they do not care for the particular kind of unity found therein. To some the liturgical, that is, the public Continued on page 6
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St. Catherine, pray for us!
Staff: Michelle Blohm (MB) Brian D’Amico (BD) Emily Davis (ED) Katherine Eddy (KSE) Layout Editor: Manuel Garcia (MG) Gillian Lamuro (GL) Callie Langworthy (CL) John Mario Levri (JML) Business Manager: Joe Maciag (JM) Andy Moe (AM) The Goodkind Gnostic: Michael C. Pezzulo (MCP) Michael J. Ruszala (MJR) Mark Schreck (MJPS) Editor in Chief: Cate Shultis (CS) ** Please note that the views held in the articles do not necessarily express the views of the whole staff.
Interested in joining our staff? Email us at notestothegadfly@gmail.com ~Mission Statement~ The Gadfly is an attempt to “bite the sleeping horse” in the spirit of Socrates. It is a student publication whose purpose is to facilitate discussion concerning campus and cultural issues as they pertain to students of Franciscan University. It aims to be a forum for open, well-thought out, and honest discussion towards the end of knowing and loving truth in its most robust sense.
Advisor: Dr. John White Advisor Extraordinaire
Have You Met My Brother Rover? This will be the first in a short series of articles about some subtly insidious things that I believe reduce, either practically or ideally, the value of human beings. I don’t claim that you’ll enjoy, agree with, or read these articles, but I’m going to try and add the weight of their ink to the pages of this prestigious periodical anyway. First up to the chopping block: animals. A popular talk radio host runs a commercial on his show which informs his listeners that there are now thirty-eight states in the Union which allow people to include pets in their will. Isn’t that interesting? I suppose it would be cruel to kick Fluffy to the curb once her master has passed on. But by definition, doesn’t the fact that the deceased is/was the animal’s “owner” relegate the animal to the category of “property,” and therefore more appropriately another thing to be left, say, to next of kin? Did anyone else see the recent news story about the penguin who was knighted in Norway? That was an inter-
esting spectacle, too: the three-foot King penguin waddling leisurely past two rows of royal guards to receive a high accolade from a fellow dignitary, with all the cool, disinterested nonchalance of a hero who isn’t even aware he’s performed a noble deed, like…being a penguin. (Honestly, this one irritated me. What happened to the days when knighthood was only bestowed upon truly deserving individuals who rendered a real service to the Crown – like Sean Connery or Elton John? I guess that’s Norway, for you.) How about that fellow in India who married his dog? Or the woman who married a dolphin? That’s just…perhaps not needful of any comment. It seems to me that all these animals are overstepping their bounds. Call me old-fashioned, but I miss the days when privileges and high honors (not to mention nuptial relationships) were not available to creatures that wallow, chew cud, tongue-bathe, or lack some combinaContinued on page 6
The Beauty in Self-Absorption Living all my life in this small town has fostered a singular, judgmental attitude towards the apparent inability of the residents to lift their focus from the ten miles in which they live. You might be surprised to hear that the city of Philadelphia and European politics reversed my pessimistic attitude towards American small towns and let me appreciate the greatest weakness of the little city: selfabsorption. After years of unofficial research I’ve come up with a rough sketch of my town which is likely reproduced at least a million times in every state: everyone knows your name…and your entire family, your recreation options are limited to your house and your friend’s, local football directs your life in the fall, and the entire town revolves around itself. The simple life rarely grants a view beyond itself, and so the energy of a town full of simple people concentrates on the life
being lived. Jobs here are more important than imports, and the mood of a month can be set by the price of gas. The only real contact with the rest of the country or the world seems to come in the form of taxes, the NBA, or the NFL. Can the rapidly shrinking world learn anything from what looks like a den of egoism? First, small towns are teachers of perspective. Shootings, murder, drugs, corruption, yeah, my home town has it all, which is saying a lot for a city of barely 19,000 residents. After a summer in the City of Brotherly Love, however, I’m happy for the days when there’s not a new murder on the news. Philadelphia boasts of two hundred years of history, a fastpaced urban life, and the highest murder rate of any large US city. After decades of failed attempts at reform, I propose that only through turning the focus of Philly to Continued on page 7
St. Anne, pray for us!
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The Real World: Steubenville So what is “real”? (This is the point where you may want to grab a philosophy major friend and have an existential discussion.) I don’t know about you guys, but as a child I always kind of thought that there would come a point when I would know I was an adult. That there would be a moment when I would look back on all the knowledge I’d gained and all that I’d accomplished and go “Aha! I have arrived!” This summer, however, has been a bit of an eye-opener for me. I waited tables, I job-shadowed, I volunteered at a crisis pregnancy center. A whole lot of “grown-up” activities, in other words. Interestingly enough, though I could definitely tell I was learning and adjusting, who I was internally never really changed. I still had the same insecurities, the same areas of confidence, the same initial errors of judgment that I had always had when faced with a new situation. And you know what? I’m pretty sure that the “grown-up” people I was working with reacted to the world in a similar way. This got me thinking, and I’ve drawn a couple of conclusions. I think there are two fundamental ways that we can approach life as college students. Option One: We can go through our lives always considering ourselves not “grown-up.” My grandfather, for example, says that he’s perpetually startled to see a seventy-year-old man in the mirror – his mental self-image is still eighteen. For example, sure, we might graduate from college next year, but then we’ll be poor grad students. We won’t really be “grown-up” then – we’ll have cardboard boxes as coffee tables! Then maybe we’ll get married and become young parents. But our parents will always be there for advice and know more about that kind of stuff than we know and we’ll be struggling to figure things out
and that doesn’t really sound “grown-up” either. And then maybe we’ll hit our forties, and look in the mirror (like my grandfather) and realize with a jolt that we sure look “grown-up” but don’t feel it. And perhaps we’ll be so shocked we’ll have a mid-life crisis, as so many Americans seem to do. That doesn’t sound so good to me, so I’d like to suggest another option. Option Two: What if we just accept the fact that we never will grow up? There will never be a golden moment of maturity that descends on us from on high. Seems like there would be a few consequences of this mental outlook. We’d actually have to take a little more responsibility for our actions. Since we’d be accepting the fact that we won’t become completely different, “grown-up” people at some unknown point in the future, we’d have to realize that what we do now truly affects us. If I enjoy drinking a little (or a lot) too much now, there won’t be a magical switch that changes that fact after I receive my diploma and have a “real” job. If I indulge in immature gossip now, there’s a rather high chance that I’ll keep on indulging, no matter if I’m in a common room or in a faculty lounge. On the flip side, though? We could relax. We don’t have to charge adulthood head-on anymore because, really, it’s not there to rush towards. We’re just people, and always will be. People who currently happen to be in a pretty awesome, low-responsibility time of life. Sure, there’ll be more responsibilities later, but we’ll rise to those occasion when and as they come, right? Personally, I’ve found I prefer Option Two. It kind of ruins my title, though. Option Two means that there’s not really a “real world” waiting for us out there – we’re in it. ~CL
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St. Gregory the Great, pray for us!
QUO VADIS?: QUESTIONS TOO WONDERFUL What is an appropriate response to tragedy? Our reactions are varied when faced with the horrific. Sometimes we meet the inexplicable, the unjust, the terrible, with stoic passivity. Sometimes we lapse into denial. Outrage or anger can, for a time, ease the aching that we feel at great loss, but none of these seem to be adequate responses. None manage to both acknowledge the loss and recognize and respect the mystery behind it. So what do we do? It seems glib to say that we must accept our losses as mysterious yet loving works of a God we cannot fully understand, but it may be the only answer that gives peace. Job, after discoursing with God, says plainly, “I know that thou canst do all things, and that no purpose of thine can be
thwarted… I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees thee; therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:2-6). Job is clearly still uncertain as to the meaning of his suffering. Furthermore, he is not saying that God’s acts were just or even good by his own measure. How could he? He lost his material possessions, his health, and his children. However, he recognized that what he judged as unjust, as wrong, as horrific, was “too wonderful” for him, and actually beyond what he could judge. God’s ways are enigmatic and elude his understanding, and ours. In one of God’s responses to
Job earlier in the book, God answers Job’s skepticism with a certain amount of humor by asking him whether he had ever “commanded the morning.” It would probably do us all some good to consider that question. Reflecting on my own life, I must admit that I have little or no control over things that happen to me, and if I were honest, I would conclude that I make plenty of mistakes even with the limited power I do have. What would happen if I were responsible for everything? If I commanded the morning? Part of me thinks, “I would take care of everyone; everyone would be happy and well, and would never suffer or feel pain.” Yet, even as I think those words, I see they are wrong. In my comfortable position Continued on page 7
Outside the Bubble Beijing, China: The International Gymnastics Federation has asked China to hand over further documentation that will put to rest any questions regarding the ages of five of its gold medal winning gymnasts: Deng Linlin, He Kexin, Jiang Yuyuan, Li Shanshan, and Yang Yilin. Its findings will be reported to the International Olympic Committee which has to date maintained that no evidence has been unearthed to prove any member of the Chinese team was under the 16-year-old age requirement to compete. Chinese coach Lu Shanzan said, “Chinese competitors have for years all been small. It is not just this time. It is a question of race. European and American athletes are all powerful, very robust. But Chinese athletes cannot be like that. They are by nature that small.” Igoeti, Georgia: It appear that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev intends to make good on his promise to withdraw Russian troops from Georgia and maintain a cease-fire agreement. Russia invaded Georgia in response to Georgia’s August 7th attack on South Ossetia, a
pro-Russian separatist province that declared independence from Georgia more than a decade ago. The United States, NATO, and much of Western Europe condemned Russia’s invasion and worked quickly to arrange a ceasefire agreement which calls for Russia to withdraw to pre-August 7th positions. One week after the agreement was signed, Russian troops had largely left the hotbed cities of Igoeti and Gori and were seen withdrawing to the separatist regions to the north. On August 21, a top Russian commander said it would be another 10 days before the majority of Russian troops would leave Georgia. Jakarta, Indonesia: The Arastamar Evangelical School of Theology has decided to close its doors where it has operated for 20 years and moving to the other side of town in light of the July attack by radical Muslims on it campus. Eighteen students were injured when the attackers hurled spears, rocks, and Molitov cocktails amid shouts of “Allah Akbar” (God is great!) and summons to the neighborhood to weed out the Christians from their community. No arrests had
been made at the time of this printing. Several hundred students have been sleeping in tarp tents in trenches where they also have class in the sweltering summer heat since being evicted from their campus. Many have decided to go home. Dessy Nope, a 19-year-old education major, does not have much faith in the Indonesian government to protect religious minorities. “We feel like refugees in our own country.” Tokyo, Japan: Scientists at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Tokyo announced that they had successfully created stem cells from a 10-year-old girl’s wisdom tooth identical to those extracted from human embryos. The discovery avoids the ethical controversy of embryonic stem cell research and opens a new door in the quest to use stem cells to study and fight diseases. Head researcher Hajime Ogushi believes it will be a good five years before his team’s method could be used for trial treatment. ~BD
St. John, pray for us!
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Injecting the Bubble: American Pop Culture at FUS Now is a time of spiritual desert for the youth in our world. Franciscan certainly stands out as an oasis for renewal, yet even here we can hardly help but be influenced by the world around us. American pop culture is more pervasive on our campus than many of us realize. In coming across a 1992 copy Franciscan Way, I was surprised at the difference between the campus culture of 1992 and that of 2008. Most pointedly, I could not but notice the radical difference in how the Franciscan students dressed. Yes, styles have changed quite a bit since then – I know. But it goes deeper than that. It represents a shift from a smaller influence of pop culture on campus in 1992 to a much larger influence today. But what is culture, and what is it supposed to do for us? According to the Dictionary of Modern Sociology, the job of culture, in large part, is to transmit a society’s experiences of what is important or meaningful to its people from one generation to the next. Since God in his goodness created us according to his likeness, there are certainly some things which rightly deserve our attention as important or meaningful to us – things of authentic value, as I will call them. While no culture can present the absolute best way of transmitting a framework for experiencing and appreciating authentic value, some cultures might indeed be better at it than others. I believe that the way in which American pop culture is evolving makes it more limited – though still not inept – in its ability to express Christian values than was classic western culture, which was built up with precisely these values in mind. Why is American pop culture more limited? It has evolved to largely bypass our spirituality, which is pre-
cisely how we come to discern authentic value. American pop culture appeals above all to our senses while classic western culture appealed to our spirit through our senses. Classic western culture was built on a foundation of reverence and respect. These values pointed outward and beyond to authentic values such as Scripture, wisdom, virtue, beautiful music, art, poetry, and so forth. On the other hand, American pop culture glorifies autonomy as its key value – a value which points inward and which our culture often interprets primarily as a means for appeasing our many sensual wants. Notice the cultural shift that took place between the running of sitcoms Leave it to Beaver and the Simpsons – before and after the 60s. Note the position of Mr. Cleaver, the father in Leave it to Beaver – he is the wise and kindly head of the family. In the Simpsons, Homer’s children are smarter and wiser than he. The trend goes far beyond these two sitcoms, and it definitely expresses an increased popularity in the notions of autonomy and disrespect in pop culture. Notice the new styles popular in post60s America. There was a trend toward a unisex style of dress to represent the mistaken feminist concept that the equality between men and women lies in minimizing gender differences. There was also a trend in dress towards dressing down to express one’s autonomy or to rebel – as if one did not care whether his or her appearance was respectful to others or to authority figures. Notice the difference in music. The music of pop culture tends to appeal more to our senses – it gets the heart thumping and the adrenaline pumping. On the other hand, classical music, chant, and sacred music appeal more to our spiritual desires, raising our minds to the beauty of things above – passing from the senses
to the soul and rightly ordering our sense desires to this transcendent beauty. With this in mind, what do we do? We can’t just go back in time, and yet our pop culture, with its unisex clothing styles and hip heart-thumping music, views values through a blurry lens that even we at Franciscan have trouble seeing through. Don’t we want a more direct window to the timeless world of values – the good, the true, and the beautiful in our world, which bear in them the reflection of the Trinity? Why do we seem to go only so far towards such a culture as we make our way through Franciscan? “Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may judge what is God's will, what is good, pleasing and perfect” (Romans 12:2). We hear this often at Franciscan, but I think we need to take it further. Perhaps, in these times when we lack the security of an adequate Christian culture, we have to build upwards from internal response and love for things of authentic value to a culture which respects values rather than to expect our culture to provide that experience for us. Meanwhile, we should be diligent to unmask what is unChristian in pop culture, to limit its influence in our lives, and to look to classic western culture for what is to be treated with reverence and respect – the dignity and true meaning of the body, the splendor of art and music, manhood and womanhood, and so forth. Pop culture tells us to question Christianity. Christianity, I believe, tells us to question pop culture.
~MJR
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become for us in Christ Our God and Our Father as well. The Gospel recounts for us that in the very darkest days of His earthly life Christ did not hide his human feeling of grief and distress in the shelter of his divinity, but entered them with all his humanity, albeit also with all of His divine love. He cried out first to the Father that his suffering would be taken away, but that if it was not taken away that the Father’s loving will would be accomplished. The Father did not remove that cup, and because the Father did not remove that cup from Christ, we ourselves have hope when we are in distress. On the cross as He died for us, the scriptures recount Christ’s forgiveness of his enemies and of the good thief, His care for His mother and His Church by “Domus Dei…” continued from page 1
work, of the Church seems sufficient for public prayer. Further, they feel that the household Lord’s Day, though it may be meaningful to some, is inadequate in light of the union of the Holy Mass. Finally, some who have tendencies to be dependent on others to make their decisions find household unity dangerous for themselves because in a household they would depend on someone they see as being more spiritually advanced, or even more popular, to make decisions “Have You Met My Brother…” continued from page 2
tion of opposable thumbs and the capacity to reason. The bad news for people like me is that the prevalent trend seems to directly contradict this way of thinking. Granted, no one is tripping over themselves to give that Indian canine enthusiast a high-five – not intentionally, anyway – but extending human rights and benefits to non-persons is becoming quite a popular work. You might not get the impressions from what I’ve said above, but I am actually something of a bleeding-heart animal lover. Be that as it may, I can’t manage to get worked into a lather over urban animal rescue, injured bird rehabili-
St. Paul, pray for us!
giving them to each other, but also His sense of total abandonment by the Father. Ancient tradition interprets Christ’s words, “My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?” as implying the entirety of Ps. 22 (of which they are the first line). In this psalm, not only does the psalmist lament that God has abandoned, but even that God, who answered the prayers and cries of his forefathers, has turned a deaf ear to the psalmist’s petition today. “I am a worm and no man” cries the psalmist – so far gone is he that he no longer is comfortable even identifying himself as a human being. Yet, the gospel indicates we should see this not merely as the psalmist’s lament, but that of Christ as well. How can this be? Because the psalmist, having already been abandoned by God, and being in the very moment of being stripped, wounded and mocked, still cries out to God, still cries out confi-
dent that his prayer is heard and confident that he will be able to praise God for the help that will be received in this hour of need. The psalm of desolation ends in a hymn of praise to God, who has not yet answered the cry of his servant, but will answer as surely as the cry itself is uttered. And the psalmist is confident that he will yet be able to sing the praises of God, who has both left him to feel utterly abandoned and inhuman but who is not thereby shown to have forgotten His love. Just as in the deepest distress Christ cried out to the Father, honest in his sense of despair and loss, but equally confident that He would praise the Father in the glory of the resurrection, so may we, by His grace, also pray in our times of travail. Amen.
concerning their spiritual life for them in order to avoid spiritual responsibility. These are some of the reasons you might be interested in joining this household I propose. I call it Domus Dei – house (or dorm, if you wish) of God. Anyone who actually feels called to a household is not welcome as our charism will be feeling not called. Let none deny our claim to have ten people on wing by pleading that justice in the distribution of such necessities as shelter is more important than the luxury of our household suffering. Let not one of us give up his right
to live on wing out of social justice concerns for the un-householded. So let us form Domus Dei, and if we grow larger than ten, let us part way, forming as many households as necessary for our mutual protection. And if policies are indeed changed so that households are not given priority, let us band together anyway in case policies happen to be changed again closer to housing time.
tation, or beached whale liberation, while in our own cities people go hungry or sleep in the street. So what’s the point? Is this a “go feed the hungry” or “give to charity” article? No, although I’m happy to take credit for any good deeds you may henceforth be inspired to perform. This article is about being reasonable in our thinking and in the distribution of our sympathies. What makes you sadder, the thought of a kitten starving to death or the thought of a human starving to death? I think that in our society the answer to this question isn’t as easy as it ought to be. We are more prone to call a Pomeranian “a member of the family” than we are another human being.
It’s a saccharine sentiment to ennoble an animal this way, and one which can, taken too far, degrade the very humanity to which we affectionately intend to raise the animal. Whether we like all people or not, people must be the first priority – all of them, before anything else. Humanity must be our business. Now let’s take some responsibility: remember who your brothers are, and be sure to have your pets spayed and neutered.
~MCP
~MB
~AM
Freshmen, Sophomores, and
St. Anthony, pray for us!
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Do YOU Have What It Takes? The Gadfly is cu rre ntl y looking for a n ew La you t E ditor and Business Manager as w ell as a host of n ew w riters. Join us! The Emu beckons! Email notestothegadfly@gmail.com “The Beauty in Self-Absorption” continued from page 2
itself can the city work through its problems. Valuing one’s immediate surroundings and dedication to them is both the gift and the bane of the small town, and this mixed blessing can remind even the biggest cities that self-awareness carries a city better than the newest designer plan. In 2005 the proposed Constitution of the European Union was rejected by France and the Netherlands. The failure of this constitution has not ended the search for such a document but only postponed the time of its arrival. (The newest draft is called the Lisbon Treaty.) Not only will this constitution reveal the fundamental values of the European states,
“Quo Vadis?” continued from page 4
of not being God, I say that, were I in control, I would not have allowed the members of the cross-country team to experience the loss of one of their own, and one of our own. I would not have permitted some to suffer serious physical injury or the rest to undergo the emotional trauma that inevitably accompanies a fatal crash. In the larger world, I would not admit any natural disasters or disease. Things would be perfect, wouldn’t they? Somehow, I doubt it. In our world of uncertainty, we often grasp at straws, attempting to “get” life or understand what happens to us. Perhaps we might instead strive to re-
but it will also fortify those values with law. This document can bring unity and peace, but it forces the countries to bring their cultures into greater correspondence than ever before. Culture comes from living out fundamental values, values expressed in work, play, life, laws, and all choices. The culture expresses who a people is and how they envision life. Unfortunately, an EU constitution carries with it many economic advantages which could entice a country to sacrifice certain aspects of its culture, certain values, for the sake of economic or political gain. While a constitution could bring peace and prosperity to Europe, I am concerned for the proud diversity that identifies each country. In the formation or retention of
culture there is no one answer. No single document can be applied to each country and bring happiness. To ensure its culture, a country must be like a small town, fixated with its culture, committed to, even absorbed with who it is. It’s easy to look over the horizon to another place and see oneself only in comparison, but that’s not the way of a small American town. It bears its own problems, is often overwhelmed, sorrows in its pain, rejoices in victory, receives help graciously, and gives generously in prosperity. So, whether you’re coming here or going home, enjoy a small thought from a small town.
spond better to the happenings without necessarily understanding their meaning and, by living in that way, to understand some of the significance of our struggles. Rilke wrote, “I beg you… to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.” I believe there is a lot of wisdom in those words. The fact is, we can’t, on
our own, make any sense of tragedy, loss, and suffering. Rather than rejecting, fighting, and warring against these questions in our lives, maybe we could try to “live into” their answers. “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements – surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (Job 38:4-7)
~MJPS
~ED
j|Çx? j|à? tÇw jtzzxÜç Psst. You. C’mere. The thing is, kid, I like you and I don’t want you running around this college without any advice at all. I know you’ve heard all the usual stuff – “don’t take out huge loans,” “study hard,” “beware bearded men named Chico” yada yada – but there’s some things that matter a lot in this crazy town that you won’t read about in any college prep manual. So take some advice from an old hand, kid, and read carefully. 1. Never, ever share your Ramen Noodles. No, this is not some bizarre yogi chant, I am actually very serious. I know we are supposed to be Christian and all that, but Ramen is different. Ramen noodles are basically gold bullion in this joint. It’s the whole basis for the sordid underworld that is this college campus. People eat these noodles raw, cooked, and even in cereal (don’t knock it till you’ve tried it, kid). You can get into any club, household, or committee if you have a big enough box of creamy chicken and don’t take my word for it, but they say that FUSA senators can be bribed for as little as two spicy shrimp packets. Don’t even tell people you have the stuff during Midterms. People who you think are your closest friends will be sniffing after the stuff and believe me, I’ve had to whack many a loved one for trying to pinch my noodles. Where I whacked them, depended on how close we were, but generally it was on the arm. Anyway, it’s not pretty, but it’s Franciscan. 2. We hug. Yeah, this might not seem a big deal to you, but when a furry sweaty man who has not been able to afford deodorant for the past month because he spent the money his Mom gave him for essentials on the pope’s latest encyclical starts looking at you expectantly, you will feel a whole heck
of a lot differently. Imagine if you came from a culture that communicates solely on a system of grunts and whistles, and if we are really emotive, flags, and you’ll imagine my surprise at this hughappy culture. My advice is to follow St. Paul’s recommendation which is when in Rome, do what the Romans do, who are, in our case, smelly, holy, huggy Romans. 3. Don’t share or borrow notes. I know this is futile because at some point you will share notes and you will, you subhuman weakling, eventually borrow notes, but at least I tried. Anyway, do not under any circumstances waltz up to the A student furtively sharpening his pencil and confidently ask to borrow his notes because last Monday you just had to sleep in and you feel so much better because of it. If the A student doesn’t stab you with his freshly sharpened pencil right then and there, rest assured that you have created an enemy for life, a very intelligent enemy at that. Frankly, don’t walk up to anyone furtively sharpening a pencil. It’s just bad juju, but beside that, don’t go up to the A student with or without pencil. If you are hoping for completely readable notes as well as a little empathy (A students are bitter, very bitter…), you are very much mistaken. The A student almost always has completely illegible script and a bizarre hieroglyphic-like system of notation understood only by his own twisted little mind. Instead, ask the high school valedictorian edu major who has recently received B’s in this class, does not understand why, and has begun writing down every word of the professor’s lecture in loopy pastel junior high girl script. Likewise, unless your grandmother died or you were actually in class with a fractured wrist, lie about why you missed class. (Yes, I have told you to both lie and hoard and no, I do
not feel at all guilty.) It doesn’t matter if you went on a hair-shirt pilgrimage and had a positively miserable time; you were not in class and were actually enjoying a life unlike the poor indentured slave-student note-taker who has been forced to endure yet another lecture. You don’t have to actually lie (okay, I am feeling a little guilty), just look hounded and say “I missed class,” implying that you might just be Spiderman and you might just have saved the President (Secret Service…pah!) from a fire last Monday. If you have trouble conveying this, put some sticky tack on your wrist for inspiration. Also, offer to photocopy or just plain copy the notes yourself. Maybe donate a chocolate bar to sweeten the deal, opera tickets even. If you follow this advice, you may not only dodge some pencil stabbings (I’ve had one; the PSATs are rough, man) and get some viable notes, but you also might end up engaged. Who knows? Well, I’ve really given you all the advice I could about college and before I go burst into tears, let me remind you every experience is different from what you imagine it will be. I imagined I would hate college, but as Byron’s Prisoner of Chillon discovered “My very chains and I grew friends, so much a long communion tends, to make us what we are even I, regain’d my freedom with a sigh” and so it was with me. Hey, this is college, after all. And remember if your noodles are pinched (which really isn’t innuendo for anything in case you were worried), smelly men start hugging you, you actually do have to ask for some for notes and you end up being stabbed by a pencil as well as affianced, well, just forget it, kid, it’s Franciscan.
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~GL