Carpe diem: ski and be merry

The trees are changing, autumn is here, and memories of winter are starting to come flooding back. Last winter, Jon Risser and I embarked on quite a different experience from most of our fellow EMUers. We left school and headed out west, to Montana’s Rocky Mountains.

Now, I didn’t leave spring semester for reasons that most people do when they take breaks from college. My goal for the spring wasn’t to make money, to do service for others, or to empathize with the marginalized of this world. These are all important things I’d like to do (well, except, I probably won’t end up making any money), but they weren’t why I went to Montana.

I went to Montana to take a break from college life, Harrisonburg, and the Mennonite community. To be honest, though, these were just all additional benefits of going; my main intention was simply to ski. All winter (and most of the months commonly associated with spring), I skied day in and day out. I did have a job at a hotel on the resort to pay for my pass, lodging, food, and skis, but the majority of my time was spent skiing.

Surprisingly, I really don’t regret this time, which could possibly be viewed as wasting four months as a ski bum, indulging in a lifestyle where I was the only one directly benefiting. I guess I would rather believe that sometimes we should just do whatever it is that allows us to enjoy life; and last winter I thoroughly enjoyed life.

I still dream of those picture perfect blue sky days with feet of fresh untouched powder covering the endless slopes. The feeling of waking in the morning and knowing that all you have do for the day is walk outside to the ski lifts is one of the best feelings ever.

Now, just like many others here at EMU, I grew up in a Mennonite community and went to a Christian high school. I feel that with this foundation there has always been an underlying unnamed pressure to do "great things" with our lives since we are so blessed. This is a powerful message, but what if I like to look at this message differently, such as seeing that a great thing we can do with our life is to enjoy it and live it to the fullest.

In Montana, I loved just skiing the days away and taking a break from everything I was familiar with. Now that I’m back in school, I am taking to enjoying the community here at college and trying to enjoy the classes I’m taking.

Too often in life, I end up doing things that I don’t want to do. People here don’t need the same things to enjoy life.

That is why I struggle with students calling others out on how not involved students here are, and the general apathetic feeling among students on campus. I agree that many people aren’t involved in clubs and campus activities, but I think that rather than pushing people to get involved, why not encourage everyone to do the activities that bring enjoyment and fulfillment to their lives.

Hopefully through this encouragement the people that enjoy bringing about change will lead us through that process, and hopefully the others will show respect and support for those bringing about the change.

Maybe then we can achieve this sense of community and love for others that will make our university what it truly can be.