Written by Joseph Dickerson
I hear it every day; people complaining about the things they don’t like here at Harding. Whether it is having to go to chapel every day, that you only get 15 chapel skips every semester, how bad Aramark’s food is, or that we have such an early midnight curfew, there is never an end to the things that people don’t seem to like about being here.
On Wednesday of “dead week” B. Chris Simpson spoke in chapel. He was the last to give his senior speech. His main message was to take school and your relationships seriously letting both change your life for the better. “There’s no place without these rules. You can waste your time worrying about the petty things that you cannot change or you can encounter God.”
Sometimes I will admit that I too join in with those who complain about the rules they have here at Harding. I don’t like that my whole suite isn’t allowed to put all of our beds in one room to sleep or that we cannot have outside furniture in the dorms. I don’t like someone telling me when to go to bed, that the prices in the student center are jacked up and caf meals cost so much, or that I have to sign out of my dorm when I want to go somewhere for the weekend. But, how will post college life be much better?
After graduation you will have many rules and things you don’t like thrust upon you.
Think about it. If curfew was at 1am instead of 12am on weekdays there is a great chance that most of the students would be going to bed at 2am instead of the average of 1am. If the caf shut down and guys had to cook their own meals for over a week, many would beg for fake eggs, long lines and cardboard pizza again.
If there is one think that my parents and some of my closer friends here at Harding have taught me is that I need to appreciate and be thankful for the experiences I have and the things I am getting out of life right now. If there is no bright side to life, then what is there?
Whenever Jim Bill McInteer or Dr. Ganus speak in chapel you can feel their honesty when they say they love this place called Harding. Why is that do you think? Is it because they just love all the rules and bad food or is it because they appreciate what they learned and experienced here?
Will you look back at your time spent here at Harding and complain that there were so many things you just didn’t like, or will you be like those great men of character who look back and say “I love Harding” not thinking about the things you didn’t like but remembering the refining experience it was?
