#7 Get Political

These last few months there have been on overload of controversy on Goshen’s campus regarding the National Anthem. Personally I feel that when something is this controversial to the school, I as a student should take time to understand both sides. That is exactly what I did. At first it was hard for me to get involved with this subject. First this was a challenge because as a middle child, I am a big peacemaker and just want everyone to get along I dislike conflict and do not like to get in the middle of it. Secondly it was hard for me to find a personal stance on subject, and it required a lot of thought and information to make a choice on what I believed.

I first started paying more attention to this subject after Goshen made the decision to play the National Anthem at basketball and baseball games. Following the announcement of this happening there were many discussions help talking about the subject. I tried to attend as many as possible. At these discussions I took notes about how different people felt and represented the issue. Outside of these meetings I had great talks with many students and faculty about their personal thoughts on the subject. The most interesting part of this to me was how personal it was to everyone. It seemed that everyone I talked to and everyone one who spoke at the public discussions had a personal beliefs behind the stance they took on the subject. It was so interesting to hear everyone’s response and thoughts on the issue. This made me realized how important it is to understand two sides of issues no matter what you believe. Some words that the President stated helped me a lot in making my personal choice. In on of his press releases about the subject he stated:

"The crux of the matter has to do with our relationship with God and with our country. We are asking ourselves such questions as: how should faithful Christians order their allegiances? How do we celebrate the freedoms and opportunities of this country and still challenge injustices that also exist in our midst? And how does a church college retain its historic peace heritage while welcoming an increasingly diverse student body from other traditions?”

This quote make me think about lot about how I myself can be welcoming to peers, professors and future students of different backgrounds and beliefs. Also I do believe in a peaceful lifestyle but I think our freedoms should be remembered. There is quote in the Bible where Jesus is talking and says give to Cesar what is Cesar and give to the Lord what is the Lord’s. I found this to be helpful too in my own process of understanding this issue. I came to the thought that my country is the USA. I am proud of being an American because God chose for me to be here. If I were an Olympic athlete and won, when I got on the podium I would want them to play our National Anthem. Also I want to honor the fact that people have fought for me to go to a Mennonite college and go to a church I chose without going to jail for it. That doesn’t change how I feel about war, peace or pacifism.

I started this process for the reason of being more political. It ended up being very helpful me personally. The most interesting part was being able to hear so many different sides of the issue. From public talks, to reading the Record to the actual playing of the National Anthem at the baseball game, it all was a learning experience.

#6. Recharging your Batteries

College brings many eye-opening experiences during its time, one of them being just how much stress learning can bring on. I was prepared for the stress of class, long days and big assignments. Before it even started I knew it would be stressful. It never occurred to me though that as my stress changes so should my ways of dealing with it. One of my biggest mistakes this year was trying to deal with new stress in old ways. When I finally did figure this out it was like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. My plan this semester was to work out a few times a week to help reduce my stress. At the beginning of the semester I found two times a week that worked for me. I planned on going by myself and spending about an hour there. Over the semester though my plans changed slightly.

The most efficient way for me to deal with stress is exercise. I have been given the advice to “work off stress” by many people in my life. At the start of the semester I would go to the RecFit twice a week and work out. It was something I looked forward to and enjoyed. I planned my schedule around it and it relieved a lot of stress. This taught me how much my body needs some sort of physical workout to keep me healthy. About of two month later my schedule got chaotic. I had little time for myself and got frustrated at how much time I was using with my two workouts a week. Needing that time, I dropped both of them to get assignments done. After being so frustrated with this and other stressful things in my life I had a talk with a professor. She gave me some great advice that will be so helpful now in the future. After telling her my issue she pointed out that my way of recharging my batteries does not have to be so time consuming. I could go for a ten-minuet walk instead of an hour-long workout. This is such a good point; I do not know why I never thought about that.

Now I enjoy ten minuet walks anytime I have a spare ten minuets and the weather is nice. My fiancé and I started walking together when we talk about wedding and house plans. When I am stuck with a homework problem or have writer’s block I take a lab around campus. This was of recharging my batteries is so perfect because it does not take up so much time, therefore adding more stress. Also I realized from my professor who suggest this, just how important it is to have a person to talk to outside of my friends and family. While my close friends and family members are great listeners, it is important to have someone outside of them that I can talk to. It is a big stress releaser and way of recharging my batteries to have a person hear me talk and give me supporting advice. This year was a huge year stress wise for me. I had more stressful things happen than ever before. Yet, in this time I learned so much about handling stress and understanding myself more than I ever thought I would.