I woke up Tuesday morning to the sun shining brightly on a beautiful day.  As I was about to walk out my door to chapel, I heard another student make a reference to the election, and I remembered that today was Election Day, 2008.  I had already sent in my absentee ballot weeks before, so I was done with voting, but many of my fellow students had been talking excitedly about voting for their first time, as well as voting in this particularly big election.

I got on my bike and started to head to chapel when my peaceful morning was somewhat interrupted by a sight I didn’t expect to see.  The “Corner Stone,” the large rock in front of the Corum Student Union, where we normally paint friendly messages against rival halls, send congratulations to engaged couples, or announce fellow student birthdays was covered in political graffiti.   A large “Obama” had been written on the rock, and someone else had come along and written “sucks” underneath it.  “I bet that’s never been done before,” I sighed to myself. Moving closer, I saw that someone had come along and crossed the “sucks” out.  Wow! I am so glad to see the creativity, ingenuity, and maturity so deeply engrained in our approach to those with ideas or viewpoints we don’t agree with.  (That’s sarcasm, by the way).  The Corner Stone is not an appropriate spot to display political viewpoints, but let’s at least be adults in the way we react to them.  The Stone should be a place where community and unity are encouraged, not a chopping block on which these values are split.  Regardless of the message or the name on the rock, it should not have been written.

But then, as I was standing looking at the Stone in a sort of sorrowful anger, I was shocked to see several students come out of the Corum and proceed to throw eggs at the rock.  What?! I’m sorry, but did I miss something?  When did it become the mature way of expressing our thoughts to throw eggs at a political message, even if it is out of place?  I was grieved to see that, apparently, some Cornerstone students cannot maturely deal with a political election without stooping to base and immature levels.  I was encouraged to see that later a large heart was painted over all the political messages, because regardless of the political differences on our campus, we are still the body of Christ.  We are still brothers and sisters, and something as trivial as a political campaign should not create divisions in our campus.  We are Americans, but even more we are a family, so let’s start acting like it.

Thank you to those who recognized their responsibility to show this community that love really can cover a multitude of sins.