Written by Sarah Kyle
As I put together this week’s Bison, I was struck by how serious this issue is. A lot has happened both in our Harding community and in the world since we left this place for the holidays.Our president has been in office for two years, to the delight of some and to the disappointment of others. Our nation faced tragedy when Jared Lee Loughner opened fire at Rep. Gabrielle Gifford’s meet-and-greet in Tucson, Ariz. The Harding community lost a dedicated employee and family member, Joe Pike, in a fatal construction accident. In Egypt, chaos has unfolded as Egyptian citizens fight for a change of leadership against a government that refuses to step down.Before I go any further, let me ask you a quick question: How did you find out about all of these events?For most of you, the answer is probably social media. A tweet, a Facebook status, a blog … you name it. Doom, gloom and news available at the click of a mouse (or smartphone).Reporters can now find leads and sources on social media sites. Sometimes stories even break on Twitter. Social media can be one of our greatest assets and tools — but are we letting it do all the work for us?While I appreciate and admire sites like Twitter for making the news available in “140 characters or less,” I want to encourage you to use social media not as a news source, but rather as a starting point for finding out what’s going on in your community and world. Use it as a lead to open your eyes to the stories that surround you.When is the last time you opened a newspaper? If you are reading this, your stats are high. But the Bison aside, when is the last time you read through an entire newspaper? What about the last time you turned on the news and watched an entire broadcast?So often for me, it has become habit to scroll down the Twitter feed and treat stories like they are little more than a status. If it seems tragic enough, maybe we click on the link and skim the story. Very rarely do we actually give the article a full and evaluative read.By treating news this way, are we losing our sense of community? Community is one of the most important things in our world. It is what makes us human and what connects us all. It is my belief that community is maintained by sharing and learning the stories of those in our world. To achieve this solely through Twitter or Facebook is, well, impossible.As you read through this week’s Bison, let me encourage you to take a moment to actually read the stories. Learn who Joe Pike was and why he mattered to this university. Let the heroic and poignant death of Dorwan Stoddard be more than just a passing thought.Everybody has a story to tell. The question is whether you will be willing to hear it.SARAH KYLE serves as the editor-in-chief of the Bison. She may be contacted atskyle@harding.edu.
