The world is changing, I feel it in my bones…
Okay, maybe things are not that insane. But as I begin my ninth year of campus ministry, I feel old!
Yesterday I was playing kickball with some students. One of the guys asked the other, “when was that last time you played kickball?” “Probably like five years ago, its been a while,” the other guy replied. I stepped in and said I haven’t played since about 1991. The students laughed, reminding me they weren’t even born yet!
Many of the students beginning college this year were born in 1995. I was in high school in 1995. If I recall correctly that was the year I tried my hand at acting, with small parts in our school productions of A Tale of Two Cities and The Wizard of Oz. It does not seem that long ago.
It seems a lifetime ago.
On Tuesday night we handed out care packages on campus. These care packages are donated by local churches as a free gift to the students. Handing them out is a great way to meet new people, to recruit members and to show the love of Christ on campus. We ended up with a few fewer then last year, with around 275. That is still quite a lot and everyone went home happy!
Last night, in addition to playing kickball, we had an ice cream social. We handed out ice cream to 100 people in about a half hour. The CSF students were incredibly outgoing in giving the ice cream away; we should have ordered more! Oh well. At any rate, as another year begins and as CSF hands out free stuff and I reflect on being older, it is time as it is every year to read the Beloit College Mindset List. Here are a few of my favorites, though you can read the whole list here.
6. As their parents held them as infants, they may have wondered whether it was the baby or Windows 95 that had them more excited.
7. As kids they may well have seen Chicken Run but probably never got chicken pox.9. Gaga has never been baby talk.
10. They could always get rid of their outdated toys on eBay.
11. They have known only two presidents.16. A tablet is no longer something you take in the morning.
28. With GPS, they have never needed directions to get someplace, just an address.
29. Java has never been just a cup of coffee.
30. Americans and Russians have always cooperated better in orbit than on earth.
31. Olympic fever has always erupted every two years.41. As they slept safely in their cribs, the Oklahoma City bomber and the Unabomber were doing their deadly work.
49. They may have been introduced to video games with a new Sony PlayStation left in their cribs by their moms.
52. They have always been able to plug into USB ports
55. Being selected by Oprah’s Book Club has always read “success.”
57. Their parents’ car CD player is soooooo ancient and embarrassing.
58. New York’s Times Square has always had a splash of the Magic Kingdom in it.
59. Bill Maher has always been politically incorrect.
60. They have always known that there are “five hundred, twenty five thousand, six hundred minutes” in a year.
David Hershey 