The Fourth Wall
page 5
Kriscinda Meadows
Author Elie Wiesel said,
“The opposite of love is not
hate, it’s indifference. The
opposite of art is not ugliness,
it’s indifference. The opposite of
faith: is not heresy, it’s
indifference. And the opposite
of life is not death, it’s
indifference.” Nothing rings
more true to me at this moment
in history.
Official numbers concerning
the youth vote this past election
have yet to be tallied. The
unofficial numbers thus are
ambiguous. According to a
Harvard study and a Pew poll
conducted prior to November
2nd, college-aged voter
contemplation and intention
were up from an average of
41% in 2000 to 57% in 2004.
from Grades page 3
exuberance and vitality. This
lack comes, he said, whenever
we “drop the object.”
Dropping the object means that
we do things but have
forgotten the deeper, inner
reason why we do them. Such
“forgotten” actions then tend
to lose their vitality, spirit,
passion, and intensity for us,
and THAT-—the lack of
vitality, spirit, passion, and
intensity—is the mark of
decadence.
Now if we look for
decadence (properly
understood) on campus, we
will not find it at campus social
events as much as in our
grading system. This is because
many of us have “dropped the
object” of grades? Grades do
not measure our performance
in school as much as our
performance in school is now
measured by grades. These two
are not the same. If they were,
then getting a top grade while
learning little or nothing would
be considered a failure, not a
success. Yet for a decadent
Over 20 million people between
the ages of 18-29 voted in this
election, up 4.6 million from
2000. Young Americans were
patting themselves on the back
for the effort.
However, when you look at
the voter percentages compared
with eligible voting population,
the numbers aren’t quite so
impressive. Since 1972, the
percentage of voters aged 18-24
dropped from 21% to 14%. The
percentage of voters aged 18-29
dropped from 30% to 21%. The
numbers are growing, but the
voter rate is dropping. Why is
this?
In the months preceding the
election, I occasionally brought
the subject of politics up to my
19-year-old sister, who is a
IS success. It is the entire
meaning and substance of
what it means to do well in
class. The trouble, of course,
is that if we place our emphasis
on getting the grade rather
than on developing our mind,
we will lose the vitality and
passion of what it is to develop
the mind.
The results are disastrous.
Decadent learners, trying to
nourish themselves on the
grade, tend no longer to get the
real nourishment of learning.
The soul of learning in them,
hungering and thirsting for the
“meal” of learning and not the
“menu” of the grade, thereby
becomes depressed, losing
vitality and passion. At some
point even their cramming
begins to suffer.
Of course, one common
response to the depression of
learning is to become “driven”
by goals. Unfortunately, this
is not the answer because
external goals cannot replace
internal purposes. Indeed, a
goal-driven existence is itself
college student. Not once did
she betray the slightest interest.
I thought she was a lost cause.
Then, about a week before the
election, she mentioned to me
in an off-hand sort of way that
she had registered to vote, but
she still didn’t know if she
would actually vote, because
she didn’t know where her
polling station was.
I called her on Election Day
and caught her washing the car.
She had found out where her
polling station was, but she still
didn’t know if she was going
to vote. I attempted one last
time to explain how important
it was to vote and how the
outcome of this election could
see Letter page 7
simply a decadent substitute for
a genuinely purpose-driven life.
My advice is this: act
immediately to save the soul of
learning. Cram at the dinner
table if you must, but never for
a test. Instead, begin to
cultivate a: “true love”
relationship with learning.
Become a learning romantic,
falling head over heels in love
with learning. Do it every day.
Oh sure, there will be some
difficult times, but the joys and
pleasures of true love will
outshine the mere jewelry of
grades every time. You will
find yourself gasping in delight
at a good point in class,
moaning with satisfaction as
you follow a deep and
penetrating analysis, and
shouting in joy when you reach
a culminating “aha” insight.
You might even want to get
married, becoming a lifelong
learner. Of course, the great
irony of it all is you will not
only fulfill your Being, but
your grades will go up.
Travis Johnson
The
Mont
Alto
men’s
basketball
flea m
hosted
the Junior
Varsity 0 {
Messiah ;
Falcons
on December 6 in what was a
hard fought match-up between
two talented teams. The
gymnasium was packed with
home team supporters as the
energized Lions got off to a fast
start, outscoring Messiah 14-2
early in the first half. The
visiting Falcons were able to
rally, going on a shooting spree
that turned up twelve points to
tie the game at forteen.
Messiah took the lead late,
taking advantage of key Lions’
giveaways and outscoring them
37-31. Before the first half
buzzer sounded, the home
crowd suffered a scare when
senior center Urick Lewis went
down with an injury. Lewis
hurt his knee when he came
down on an awkward
rebound. Lewis did not return
for the second half.
It seemed as if Messiah
would run away with the game
in the second half, when Mont
Alto quickly fell behind by ten
points, their biggest deficit of
the game. Behind senior guard
Jacquet Scott, the Lions got
back into it, scoring six points
and pulled first to 47-51, then
to 51-53, before finally taking
the lead at 54-53. Messiah
regained the leade with a late
field goal, making the score 63-
60. The Falcons made it a two
possession game scoring an
easy two from within the paint
with only a minute to go. With
no timeouts remaining, Mont
Alto was forced to foul the
Falcon players in order to stop
the clock. Messiah was nearly
flawless on their free throws,
and closed out the game at 64-
71. Scott led the Lions scoring
with 13 points. Lewis, despite
his injury, had six points in the
first half. With their loss to
Messiah, the Lions lose a step
at 3 — 2 on the season.