I started the year off the way most of you did: watching Marie Kondo tell me how to live my life. If you haven’t watched her show, she is a Japanese organizational expert who helps people declutter their homes and lives by throwing out things that don’t bring them joy. I am a believer. I went through my closet and dresser with a voracious energy, tossing aside the stuff that had been restraining my joy.
As I get further along in college, it’s easy to do this same thing with the people I’m around. If they don’t bring joy, *boop!* they’re not written into the schedule. This is a hard thing to admit at a school that is so community-oriented, but I think that it is so easy to slip into. As the Student Association has contemplated the “Be Present” theme, we have emphasized how community and presence includes everyone — even the people who we don’t like, or who aren’t in our social club or even the people who are in the super long line at Panda Express.
Here’s what I love about Harding: we’re all looking in the same direction and standing together as we do it. How wonderful. A week ago, we all looked to a red moon at 12:15 in the morning. Just yesterday, we held Post it and Pray and lifted up prayers for everyone who asked. This week, I’m committed to continuing this prayer for the people I don’t know, don’t see or even don’t like. I’m committed to looking up or around at things of beauty and sharing those with the people I’m around. I hope you’ll join me as we try to Be Present and manufacture joy for all of the people around us.
