By: Sydney Arnold ('27)
Have you ever thought that your family was perfect? That they were doing everything right and everyone else was wrong? We can look at that sentence and know it is an unhealthy standard to hold our families to. We are humans! It is never going to be perfect. I would even suggest that you cannot love them to the best of your ability unless you acknowledge their flaws.
It is an easy mental jump to say that your family might not be perfect, but you can love them and acknowledge that. However, we are hesitant to apply this to something bigger, like our country. Americans, specifically, are resistant to critique of their country. We frequently refer to ourselves as God’s country, as if God has a special love for Americans, or that we are specifically blessed by God, led by God, or chosen to be the “modern Israel.” However, God does not favor our country over others; he does not place us above the people living in Spain, Canada, Kenya, India, or Afghanistan. In the same way that you cannot love your family without critiquing and acknowledging their shortcomings, you cannot love your country without recognizing that it is a flawed system built and run by flawed people. The first step in fixing those injustices and learning from those mistakes is to acknowledge that they exist.
Now, one person cannot just shout all the bad things about our country into the void. Instead, we must look to our institutions. Social psychologist at NYU Stern School of Business, Jonathan Haidt, writes in his article, “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid,” that to silence critique is to “shoot a dart gun” right back at the institution’s brain. It discredits, destabilizes, and diminishes the intelligence of an institution to reject other perspectives or conversations of growth. Iron must sharpen iron rather than hushing up indiscretions or pretending that we do not have flaws because Houghton is a Christian University. Houghton has no shortage of good and Godly things happening, and this is not a call to stir up hate, just a plea to invite everyone into conversation. Religious institutions must be even more aware of this, because not only does Houghton’s reputation represent the whole student body, but it is also one of the only two Wesleyan Universities in the state and one of only a handful in the country. What messages do we, as an institution, project about Jesus’s love? What messages do we share in the media that define who we are? Houghton’s voice is bigger than one person’s and does have the power to take a stand against injustice. Students at Houghton have a wide range of political and religious perspectives, and many students have expressed their frustration with the close-mindedness they have faced in classrooms and discussions. Many students feel unseen, unheard, and underrepresented after Houghton’s recent news publicity or outward political stances. We must look for opportunities to share our ideas and have open conversations. The panel discussions are a good start, but what if we invited speakers with different views? We have a beautifully crafted school newspaper, but what if we preserved an atmosphere where people felt safe sharing their opinions and concerns in it? Where can we invite others into the conversation?
The vision for Houghton should be one where students from all different backgrounds and perspectives can come together to learn and worship Christ. It should be a place to broaden your perspective and be challenged to tackle new ideas with the help of professors and peers. How much more growth could we collectively have if we had open discussions between all different kinds of students and faculty? To create that environment, we must be able to acknowledge the places where we are falling short. The most beautiful part of that image is modeling a way of Christian life where we can learn from each other, include each other, and protect each other. ★
