I guess if you only went to mellow concerts and football games for the entire time you were at Baylor, you would see a pretty narrow view of the school.  Go to a women’s basketball game or Sing or some other event and you will see a whole other side of things.  I really just don’t understand why people have to take their narrow experience somewhere and stereotype an entire school based on their small experience.  I even hate to stereo-type A&M as a drone factory, but all of friends that went to A&M and liked it seem to love the idea.  You can actually insult them o their face with the clone-liness of A&M, and they’ll respond that “clone-liness is next to godliness, right?” Too weird for me.

Baylor doesn’t have a good football team.  So they probably aren’t going to attract rabid football fans.  A&M does have a team that can win.  That will draw in different students.  CCM music just isn’t popular at Baylor.  I know some swear it is – but I grew up in Waco.  CCM just tanks anywhere is Waco.  ust ask any one of the owners of the 10 failed Christian bookstores that have tried to make it there.

Have I ever found that kind of culture of enthusiasm and participation?  Sure – at every single church, school. college, workplace, group I have ever been a part of.  Enthusiasm and participation spring from personality traits.  Not from cultures around us.  It’s people – not the society.  You will find these types of people every where if you are just willing to look.  “You find what you focus on” is what I used to tell my students when I was a junior high teacher.  If you focus on negative stuff – that is all you are going to find.  Sure, you might run face first in to some good stuff, but you are not going to see it because you are focusing on the bad.  But if you focus on positive stuff – that is what you are going to find.  Sure, you might run face first in to some bad stuff, but it’s not going to take you down because you are focusing on the positive.

Also, unless I’m mistaken, as per TIA’s blog, TIA attends the University of Texas.

We better be careful or this really could become a culture war.

I’m a PBU’er and just wanted to thank you for coming to my school on Friday. What you said truly impacted and challenged me. I’m excited so many children were sponsored as well(I sponsor 2 girls in the Dominican Republic) and feel blessed to be part of Compassion! Also glad you enjoyed Chick-fil-a (the one by PBU is the BEST)!

I completely agree with you regarding what you wrote about communities and smaller schools. I’ve been to smaller Christian schools most of my life and do agree that the overall culture is one of participation and enthusiasm. And while this is not always the case for every single person/event there, I do think the ‘smallness’ contributes to the closeness and overall excitement of the student body.

Thanks again and God Bless!

But Shaun has a great point, too, that at A&M a lot of the personal barriers and masks are taken down.  The simple fact that every is expected to great everyone else passing by tends to draw people out of their shells.  I’ve sat in the student center with dominoes and played a game of 42 with perfect strangers, just cause the opportunity was there to play.  People are, perhaps, a bit less reserved – and this comes from the sense of brotherhood, the sense of sameness, that we all share.  This is something I carry with me – an ability to converse with just about anyone because I can find something, no matter how trivial, where we share interest and build a bond from that.  In many ways it is an awesome environment to be a part of, with people brimming with passion and enthusiasm.

Of course, there have been many times in history where this kind of passion has described the church, but the good aspects Shaun talked about the the bad aspects TIA mentioned.  Can anyone remember the Crusades, or the Inquisition, where non-conformists to the church were treated poorly (to say the least)?  Or how about the Branch Davidians – full of zeal, totally misdirected.  Passion can be a great thing, but can be easily made to serve a mans purpose and not God’s.

All that to say GIG’EM AGGIES!

That’s all I’ve got to say.

Just sayin’.

It wasn’t uncommon to show up for work to find a fellow employee out in the bushes, picking up cigarette butts and napkins that had blown off the deck—just because they wanted the place to look cared for during the dinner rush. And the managers? They delighted in taking care of the staff. I still remember the day I arrived to open, to find that every manager we had (even those who weren’t working that day) had gotten to the restaurant early to set up. So instead of prep work, we spent the next 90 minutes eating free appetizers and playing Trivial Pursuit.

Amazing.