by Leah Willis
senior contributor
This month has marked my final descent into my last days as a college student. I have been at PLNU since day one for the class of 2013. I can still remember turning bright red as my parents made jokes to the cute upperclassmen unloading my refrigerator out of the car, and I remember the moment when I met my best friends walking to the Caf. These, I can say, are still my best friends, even four years later.
I remember the first time I felt truly alive as a group of kids gathered on the cliffs one night to watch comets pass.
I remember the first raw and real conversation I had seated at the Sunset Deck tables: A conversation about Love. Love for each other and love for our Creator.
It was during this conversation that I expressed my view that I still hold very true today. Within our own beliefs, opinions and backgrounds, we have lost sight of a simple fact: we are called to love one another and build each other up regardless if we are gay or straight, conservative or liberal.
In no way am I implying that people should cash in their beliefs and views for either side; I’m just asking for the student body to respect one another in love, to respect each others’ different views and especially not to call their passion and drive “pointless.”
If these past years have taught me anything, it is this: Even though PLNU is a small school, it is still a beautiful melting pot of gender, race, sexual orientation and political views. And honestly, I get discouraged when I hear people say, “well then they just shouldn’t have come to this school.”
Because who are any of us to cast judgment on God’s perfect and pleasing will of each student’s place at PLNU? Each of us is a uniquely created being, tailored by God.
I know for a fact I didn’t end up at PLNU by chance, and I say the same for every one of you. With this, my heart breaks that anyone would feel unwelcome at a Christian university just because they don’t hold the same stance as their fellow classmates.
Community is a common theme tossed around the student body at PLNU, and it is time to act upon it. I don’t mean just in your dorms, D-groups or your gathering of friends outside the PBC after chapel.
I mean real community. A community that loves and enriches. A community where students aren’t fearful that their peers will mock them for being themselves. And a community that treats each other as equals and a place where we are not making anyone feel small for being different.
Because we are all a little different, and how wonderful is that? Take care of each other, PLNU, for we all are God’s beloveds.
