By the time this passage is read, it should be self-evident that I was not present at the pep rally. It may be required; it may be voluntary, but I did not go either way. No matter what consequence awaits me because of my decision, I do not regret it. In the end, all history is gone, but what’s left are the people’s dreams, and their ideas that echoed through time.
A school is like a nation, with people, resources, and so on. I love this community the same way many people love their country, and my passion for this community I promise is no less than any of the people who were cheering in the game and the pep rally.
A school is like a nation; the more united a nation is the stronger it will become.
However, mere passion, mere emotion cannot bind us together, cannot unite us.
They may work in the short run, but in the long run, is the real love that unites us all. Such love, I do not believe, can come from excitement, nor can it come from a rally.
It has to come from the endeavor of each individual to understand; it has to come from the love, that is not momentarily aroused by having a giant H imprinted on people’s shirts, but one that people cherish deep at night. This kind of cherishment comes when people are willing to let go of their masks, and when people are willing to have a deep conversation one to one, heart to heart. However a rally is not a conversation.
In George Orwell’s ‘1984,’ the protagonist participated in the “Two Minutes of Hate,” a rally designed to excite negative emotion towards the enemy of the regime and to blind the rationale of individuals.
Obviously this is very different from what we do here in the Hill School, luckily. However, similar principle follows.
In the novel, every single person, young or old, showed great passion to their nation, but do they really love their country? Or is it merely excited emotion?
Last year during Lawrenceville weekend I did go to the pep rally. I do not think I got anything positive from the rally nor do I think the school got anything positive from me.
People were cheering for the defeat of people; people were cheering for our victory that built on their failure. Isn’t this what the Two Minutes of Hate is all about?
I greatly appreciate the athletes who competed during that weekend. I am, and will be, always proud of what they had done for this school win or lose, but why don’t we try to learn and see and communicate with Lawrenceville instead of vilify them? This pep rally is the same. We cannot be blind to our school’s greatness nor can we be silent about our problems.
I love this school, and I really want people to unite together. When we only show the positivity, and ignore the netavitiy, how can we have an objective understadning?
If our purpose is to make the school better, then wouldn’t it be more helpful if we take a look at the H that we are wearing and have the courage to face the problems faced by the school? If having a giant Blue & Grey flag is all that Hill School is, and if we only know the Hill School from a cheering crowd, then aren’t we putting a blindfold on ourselves?
Morale is important; there is no dispute in that. However, if we need a pep rally to keep the students enthusiastic about the school, then there must be something wrong.
If people truly appreciate this place, if people truly have a connection with each other, if people truly care about each student and faculty the morning they wake up, we do not need a pep rally to keep the morale, the same way that we don’t need a pep rally for a family, because family understands, and family unites.
The SGA is the core of the school. It is what people elected, and it is not only to represent, but also to understand the people. If this organization really wants to bring change to the school, then inspire more conversation between people, advocate intellectual discussions between people, encourage people to open up and share their different views.
Perhaps we shouldn’t look at what we all share; perhaps we should look at what we all differ.
Any people can get together because they are similar, but the unity between people despite their differences is truly unbroken.
Who will remember a pep rally on September 9th? Perhaps none. However, everyone will remember of the reformation of the school, and the generation of students who does it; everyone will remember the 2 hours long conversation he or she had with another person.
Those are what shaped us, and those are what define us, and those are what define Hill.