How Much To Give?

Today was my first day in the second half of my classes and I must say they were exciting.  These classes were more in line with my actual interests as I was in Modern Philosophy (seems like the hardest class I have this semester), Ancient Greek (potentially the easiest class as it takes a lot of effort and memorization and not too much else), and Freshman Seminar (which is just a mixed bag of tricks).  So today was long, but it was enjoyable.

However, I want to discuss something important that happened on Tuesday that really was cool to me.  Each year Eureka College does the Ivy Ceremony and it technically has two parts.  You do the first part at the beginning of your freshman year and the last part at the end of your senior year and it is a symbolic ceremony that goes like this.  The Eureka College class of 1900 went to the grave of Alexander Campbell at Bethany College and snipped some of the ivy (with permission) from his grave and attached it to the walls of our oldest building, Burris Dickenson Hall.  Each freshman class takes a sprig of this ivy and places it in a common bowl and then when they become seniors and the time for graduation takes place, they then cut out a section of ivy to take with them as they go.  In effect, this is to recognize the intentional coming together to grow and then the time when it comes to leave and to be planted elsewhere. Being the sentimental person that I delightfully am, I enjoyed all of this going on.

[It is interesting to note that I have looked all over Burris Dickinson Hall and have found no ivy.  I don’t know if they relocated the ivy or if they killed it off at one time or if it is all a myth.  What a wonderful mystery, eh?]

As I was sitting in my chair, waiting for the time to deposit my ivy, a thought occurred to me.  I could take a leaf from this vine, just a small one.  There was a dozen ivy leaves and I spied a new leaf that would not easily be missed. I could quickly pick it and stick it in my pocket then take it back to my dorm room to press into a book as a constant reminder of this day when I commit myself in symbolism to the college and all of those around me. 

However, I soon realized that as much as I wanted to, I could not really do that.  If I was to give myself symbolically to the college and the other students around me, I had to give my whole self.  I couldn’t give my ivy minus a leaf because then I would be keeping a little bit back, a little bit that wouldn’t join in community and would be left to rot away untouched and unchanged by the forces that come to work in this time of life.  Faced with this analogy, I knew that I had to keep this memory in my heart and to give the whole sprig with nothing held back. 

Here is to a college experience where nothing is held back and everything is placed on the butcher’s block to be worked over, cut up, and re-presented as a useable and tasty morsel.