Whether you view the Bluffton community in the same way that I do (Bluffton being the horn which is diagrammed) or not, I still think you should read this.
With taking recent events on campus that have occurred and mixing them with Bluffton’s four enduring values, we have a confusion.
This campus is our home. For some, a place to feel safe. For me, a metaphorical horn. When events happen, the horn is sounded off. In a small community, it is not hard to hear about everything that goes on.
If you have followed my revival and resurrection of Around the Horn, then you will know about light poles being knocked down last semester.
A costly amount of money and effort is put into keeping this campus as beautiful as it is.
This campus is my home. I grew up where the opportunity for second chances were never given to me.
A Tweet from the LRC on Sept. 2
I am not here to tell you about my past or hardships. The past is the past. You can live in it, or you can feed from it.
What I am here to offer is my input and advice, although I know that what I have to offer to some may seem like nothing.
Feeding from the past, I would like to bring up an event I saw on Twitter last week.
On Sept. 2, The Bluffton Learning Resources Center Twitter account posted a picture of a trash can and park bench that had been tipped over with the caption, “NO. This is your home. Be better.”
Community
Together we are stronger. Together we are greater. Together we are united.
The horn was sounded off starting here. The quiet whispers in the Marbeck Commons mentioning vandalism on our campus quickly grabbed my attention. Events, big or small, are heard about on this campus.
Putting individualism over community is not what this campus wants or needs. The inclusion of every group in our community is known as pluralistic society. Whether or not we believe in the same things as one another, we still live in a community.
While some may argue that a select person or multiple people are to blame for this event taking place, I am here to offer a new perspective.
No single person owns the blame for what happens on this campus.
When you walk past the tipped over park bench and trash can, try to pick it up.
If you see a person or multiple people committing acts of vandalism, say something.
As a community, we are together.
If you can help someone struggling to make the right decisions, why would you not do everything in your power to try to help them?
If the point comes to where the person can no longer be helped and you are being harmed by the issue, then, by all means, save yourself.
This event however can be helped. This event can be different.
The world is cruel, but your world does not have to be.
Respect
Before you, there were other people who attended Bluffton University. Some for a short amount of time, others for their entire college tenure.
I would like to think of myself as a an executor. Someone who has a plan and is able to make that plan into an action.
Although I think of myself as this, I have made mistakes.
A mistake is defined as “an action or judgement that is misguided or wrong.”
If you can help someone struggling to make the right decisions, why would you not do everything in your power to try and help them?
I do not define the mistake of turning over trash cans and park benches as an act of vandalism. I define this event as a mistake.
To grow up believing it’s funny or entertaining to kick over park benches, trash cans and light poles, is to be misguided. It is, therefore, classified as a mistake.
Mistakes can be small or large. As a community however, it is our job to reshape the future so events such as these do not happen.
Respect those who came before you, those who live amongst you and the future you will be a part of.
Discovery
Maybe through these drawn out ramblings will you find a piece of you that was yet to be found.
Maybe you’re learning about this tweet for the first time.
Maybe you don’t care about any of this.
Any way that you decipher or discover this article, you are still discovering you yearn for a truer version of you.
If you decide this topic is not for you or that it’s close to your heart, you are still taking steps forward to becoming a truer version of you.
If you feel accomplished or proud of yourself, you are discovering more and more about yourself.
We as a Bluffton community pride ourselves in discovering our true selves.
We have over 20 different church denominations, students from around the world, plenty of cultural food options to try at Marbeck, over 90 academic majors, minors, and programs and a surplus of other things to be discovered here at Bluffton University.
This leads me to my last point.
Service
If you can help someone who is struggling to make the right decisions, why would you not do everything in your power to try to help them?
What service can you provide to the teammates, professors, friends, family, faculty and staff around you?
In a community where we help each other, respect each other, and discover new things about each other, we should also serve the people around us.
Service is where you put community, respect and discovery into action.
With the four enduring values of Bluffton University, I leave you with some final questions:
What does Community mean to you?
Respect?
Discovery?
Service?
To me, these mean the moments that we live in — the moments we can change and be a part of.
To me, these mean a metaphorical horn.
To me, these mean Bluffton.
I hope that through this message you are able to be a part of the community, respect the people around you, discover yourself, and provide a service that will not only benefit you but also the people who surround you.
I hope that through this message you find Bluffton to be your new opportunity to start over. Mistakes are okay to make if there is a better plan moving forward.
But most importantly, I hope that through this message you realize that this is your campus.
This is your home.
— Colten McCabe
