The Underground
A Collegiate Character Crisis?
Who would claim otherwise? We definitely recognize instances of good and bad character. That said, how much do we really care about the roots and creation of this character? Assessing character briefly became a matter of utmost national importance (or non-importance, perhaps) in this election season, but woefully little attention is paid to the act of building character. In a society that generally prefers quantification, action items, assessment and evaluation, creating character is seen as a moving target and vague abstraction better left alone. Treating character in this way, however, is exceptionally dangerous to a self-governing society.
21st-Century Patriotism
Around a year later, I made the mistake of logging into Facebook on the morning of Nov. 9, 2016, which was especially ill-advised after 0630 ROTC physical training at the MIT track. “I am ashamed to be an American.” “As an American, this is embarrassing.” And so forth. I was prepared to encounter anger, outrage, confusion, and grief that day, but I was not expecting to encounter what I felt was nothing short of … unpatriotic. I went about my day as incensed and hurt as some of my classmates, but for entirely different reasons.
