Sam Tezack
Life Editor
Winston wasn’t a little rascal this week—he was acting like a shithead. Like all young puppies he nipped, sprinted, and tried to wrestle everything in his path including a shy 8 year old pug and his own photographer: Esther Chan. One would think that walking a dog for an hour and a half might tucker him out. But no, Winston begs to disagree. Kids these days.
But oh lawdy it’s been a beautiful week in Colorado Springs! And the weather alone made it totally worth it to put up with Winston’s rambunctious behavior.
Walking hand in hand with this beautiful week, we have had the opportunity to participate in some phenomenal events on campus. This past Sunday my Beta Omega brothers and I gathered together with several other Kappa Sigma chapters from across the state for our annual Conclave. The day included a chapter wide service event, an initiation ceremony, and an awards ceremony. And that’s when I started thinking about tradition.
As an all-boys school alum, I eat up traditions. They foster timeless community, an amalgamation of generations of people taking practice in one event as an act of solidarity. And traditions are not limited to all-boys schools and fraternities—here at Colorado College we have some incredible traditions worth honoring.
Whether it is a new tradition such as Shut Up and Stop Making Sense, yearly traditions like Battle of the Bands, or any of the numerous discussions sponsored on campus that have brought us into dialogue on just war theory, Ocean Robbins, or writers Ondjaki and Cynthia Lowen, we have spaces to dive right into community.
And as much as Winston’s lunacy pushes our buttons at times, he still retains that puppy charm filled with fluff and curiosity. Not only that, but in more ways than I care to admit, Winston and I share similarities—perhaps with you too.
Winston seems infinitely curious, powered by a seemingly indomitable energy that electrifies the people around him. Just so, we live and work in an environment swarming with creativity and a multiplicity of resources at our fingertips. We have the propensity to learn so much, but just like Winston, it is important to remember that we do not know everything, in fact, the more we come to know the more we come to realize our own ignorance. That’s not a bad thing.
In the age of individualism, youth, and empowerment it is easy to get caught up in our own selves, beliefs, or whatever we may posit as our belief. Especially in a liberal arts college setting that has a large concentration of young people let’s take time to celebrate our elders—remembering that regardless of our qualms with their policies, they are the reason we exist: right here, right now.
Speaking in the same thread of thought, it is vital to our integrity that we place ourselves in others’ shoes before we condemn their beliefs. It’s equally important to celebrate traditions, honoring the timelessness behind them and our place within them.
With that in mind, let’s remember how incredibly fortunate we are to be given these opportunities. The shows, the panels, the writers series, and everything in between all contribute to this incredibly fabric of experiences at Colorado College. Further, we can extrapolate a whole bank of information from these opportunities and utilize the knowledge and memories gained to contribute to our personal life recipes.
The Catalyst
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