For The Kids (Running on Empty)

This post may be out of the typical fashion for my blog, but there is a reason for that. It is a new week, but more importantly, it is the week after THON has finished. For many of us, staying for just a few hours to show support is ideal, we represent our friends and loved ones while also not committing to the full forty six hours. This year we raised a collective fifteen million dollars to put towards fighting childhood cancer, an astounding increase from just under fourteen million raised last year. Let me repeat that for those of you who didn’t wrap your heads around that; FIFTEEN MILLION DOLLARS. That is an incredible show of abutment from a bunch of college kids – plus alumni, of course. For me and my friends though, we stayed until the end to show love to our brothers dancing on the floor.

This image of my friend and brother through fraternity fully encapsulates how we felt while at THON, albeit with a little more energy than I had towards the end. No matter how long it had been or how little food and sleep we had had, JP was right at the center of it all, dancing and singing along with the music. The “glue friend” who holds everything together trope is overdone in literature, but never in reality. They are truly some of the most amazing people who can inspire confidence, instill rejuvenated energy, and keep the pack going. And that is exactly what JP did for us at THON. By hour twenty six or so, by my guesstimations, he was still enthusiastic, jumping up and shouting “BJC IS BOOMIN” every time the song came on. I, personally, was past the point of jumping, but I would yell and throw a fist up every time that it was called for. It took my friend’s dedication and endurance to keep me going, and despite a few hiccups here and there (plus a little dozing off while standing up), we did it. 

The Monday immediately following THON, I was completely and utterly exhausted. Standing for so many hours without sleep is by far the most debilitating thing I have had to endure. On my (begrudging) walk to my 9 am class, however, I saw a cute chunky squirrel just digging for his next meal. For a lot of people on campus, these critters are an ordinary part of campus, nearly as permanent as the dorms, class buildings, or monuments. For me, however, this reminded me of previous posts about digging deep and finding the things you’ve worked on strengthening in preparation for the hard times. Where squirrels bury nuts and acorns, humans develop skills, resilience, and friends that can help us when times get tough. We tend to have this insane outlook that we have to do things alone, which I, too, have fallen victim to. But (and please excuse my French) life is fucking hard sometimes and we are social beings who need each other to get by.