commitment

a fellow campus chaplain and i were talking earlier today about how hard it is to get our students to commit to things (especially far in advance).* it's another challenge to add to the "what in the world" list. no worries, there is no actual list that we avidly monitor. the mere thought of starting such a list just adds stress to my brain. it's just that we want our students to happily jump on board and stay on board without first knowing that 5 of their friends are jumping, too. we also want them to stay on board whether or not their 5 friends stay. it may come as a surprise that so many of my conversations with campus chaplains revolve around student commitment.

and as i've made a practice of lately, whenever something i see in someone else begins to bother me, i ask myself when last i did that very same thing. so self, when were you last weary of commitment? when did you last make sure that your friends were on board before saying yes to something? huh, self? when? don't act like you're immune from such behavior, you goodie-two-shoes!

okay. pep talk. check. memory of noncommittal moment. well...see i have a full time job, i'm married, and i'm trying to live well. it's pretty much in my best interest to say no to things. not committing = time to breathe. and maybe that's how my students feel. after all, research shows that college students today are much busier than generations before.

or at least i think i've heard that. there's so much info being tossed around, stats here there and everywhere. perhaps my generation grew up so ridiculously independent; we're the latch-keys. no wonder we don't understand those who've grown up with parents, the connotations of which are plenty (on both sides of that sentence)...

i guess the plus side is that i'm not alone? oh, these uncharted waters...


*students, we love you...we just don't understand you and it's hard for us to think that perhaps we were once reluctant committers, too. in fact, we don't think we were. be patient with us, pls!