There are over 2000 students in the College of Humanities: it has been rewarding working with the handful chosen to be apart of the council this last year.
People are irreplaceable. I could go to any other university in the world and still read the great works of literature. Some schools would do a better job than BYU of teaching the topics I am studying, while some schools would not. I could go to many other schools and find winning sports programs that are fun to follow (probably with a basketball team that has made it out of the first round of the NCAA tournament in the last decade...). The one thing that is completely irreplaceable about my experience at BYU is the student body. You are all irreplaceable.
In a large way I am who I am as a result of rubbing shoulders with each of you. Whether it is discussing life while cutting fabric, or crusading in the cold for Angels Aiding Angels, each of those moments is irreplaceable. I could do all of those same activities at other universities, but not with the same people (since they are all here at BYU).
Some students end up at the Y because it is the only school their parents will pay for. Others end up here because it is the only school they can afford to pay for on their own. For whatever reason the students on our council have come to BYU, it feels like they are using this council as a place to affect the world around them. If all they were after was a GPA it would be much more efficient to avoid experiences like the student council. I love coming to class because it is a handful of students who are after more than a GPA. I am grateful to be part of that kind of a group. Every presentation affects me. Every conversation leaves me a better person. With both of the councils I have worked with I have seen how many different ways we all have of approaching the same need. I have loved learning from the different styles and approaches that have been presented. The combination of approaches that I have seen up to this point could not be replicated anywhere else. I love to think about that.
It isn't that interaction with other people in other places wouldn't change me as well. But it would not change me in the way that all of you have changed me. And thus far I like the change!
Thanks everyone for the energy you bring to the council.
Thanks for your post. Sometimes it's really easy to feel replaceable, but it is so important for us to remember our worth. I am also grateful for the experiences I've had with HCSC and agree that the memories and the friendships we've built cannot be replaced.
ReplyDeleteQuestion, Tim... If people are irreplaceable, then people at all universities are irreplaceable, right? Not just BYU? While I greatly enjoyed reading your article, I hope that each of us doesn't get it in to our heads that we are some how special (or at least "more special" than the person next to us). I have to concede, however, that an interaction with BYU students results in a unique result of change to an individual that would likely not come anywhere else. Like it or not, there is something irreplaceable about BYU and it's students.
ReplyDeleteGood observation, Timmy!
Your picture of the Oscar award made me think more about the Academy Awards than anything. I happened to watch the awards and it was amazing to see how many stars AREN'T grateful for anything--but instead use their moment of glory to make some absurd political commentary on something that really doesn't involve anybody but them and has no real impact on anything.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, those So. Cal. stars could learn something from your post.