“We are approaching the end of civilization. Take one last look, so you remember what it is like,” I joked with the student I was bringing to Houghton from the Rochester airport. Yet here we are, from all over the world, coming to Houghton in droves. The land flowing with milk and corn, and enough cows for each Houghton student to have at least two.
To the non-Houghton student, Houghton is an odd place with nothing to do. To those of us who have been here for four years it is even odder. Many of us often wonder why we are still here with so little to do. It is probably not “location, location, location,” the main reason real estate agents can sell a piece of property, because Houghton is near nothing. Walmart and Wegmans are over 30 minutes away, and the nearest mall is farther. Coffee shops with windows that provide natural light to bask in are a dream, wishful thinking, because it takes longer to get to one than hours of homework that need to be done. Movie theaters are in the same boat. It is difficult to imagine how life can be lived without these necessities. Aren’t they necessary for us to learn how to live in the real world?
Speaking of the real world, how can Houghton’s location possibly relate in any way to it? The real world is full of diversity (religions, people groups, beliefs, languages, sexualities, ideas, and backgrounds to name a few), opportunities to encounter the unknown or new, maturity and knowledge in discussing controversial issues, knowledge of how the world works, comfort and freedom of expression in art, clothing, piercings, skin and ideas, independence in decision making, and lastly privacy, knowing that not everyone is going to be in your business because it is their duty. These would be huge benefits if Houghton was located somewhere else. We would have opportunities to learn how to interact with and execute these functions of the real world.
Many of the attributes of the real world we seem to be lacking are relational. The tangible places to go are often places you go with people, and the intangibles are all people-related. It could be argued that we do not have the manpower, as it were, in diversity or maturity here on campus. However, if you cannot learn to enjoy life with people who are similar (with many small and some major differences) how can you expect to enter into a diverse world and handle yourself with maturity and dignity? Houghton affords you the opportunities to learn how to invest and cultivate meaningful relationships because there is not much else to do.
Everything becomes an opportunity to build relationships, to learn more about your fellow humans and how they function. It provides the opportunity to learn how to be a friend and care about other people. Whereas, in a busier place you would be too distracted with things to do to invest in people the way we can in Houghton. Often, when I ask why people haven’t transferred it is because of the friendships they have formed. While in Houghton we learn to love people like Jesus loves us. We can practice loving others so that when we are done here we can go out into the world and love our neighbor no matter who they are.
When you learn to love everyone, that begins to define every experience. You can go anywhere and be content because you have learned to love and love can go with you everywhere – to both rural and urban places in any and every country – and you can be content no matter what is or is not in a particular location as far as diversity or things to do. There will always be people to love, who will make wherever you are living a place to practice love, and ultimately your home.