In neon pink chalk during the first week of classes someone scrawled the message “This School Sucks” outside of the LRC.

Maybe the original writer had a change of heart or someone else saw fit to soften the message by crossing out sucks and writing rules in much smaller print, the message caught the eye of many students.

I passed this spot many times, and it not only caught my eye but made me wonder: how someone could form such a negative opinion after only the first few days of the semester?

It is rather easy to drop out during the first week of classes with no real loss, if someone really didn’t want to be a student, then they should just leave rather than spread such a bit of pedantic apathy to the students that crossed over the pink text.

The more I contemplated this message, the more reasons I found not to agree with it. How could someone not take pride in their effort to get to NMU, and their accomplishments thus far.

Or better yet, how can someone not take pride in their school, their work and their goals?

In all this hating on and ranting about this fiendish statement, an idea occurred to me. Maybe that was the point of the message.

Perhaps the messenger wanted students to be enraged by the sight of the chalk words and in seeing it start to think about why they are, or at least should be, devoted to finding fulfillment and enjoyment during their time at NMU.

No one is going to hold our hands and go out of their way to entertain us. No one will be there to read our minds and tell us the best path we should take to be successful. Only we can do that for ourselves.

Maybe such a statement of apathy was meant to carry a deeper meaning. Maybe it is time for us all to start caring about our campus.

Rather than the nonconstructive criticism the chalk offered, one could focus on the reasons for feeling that NMU may not fulfill students’ expectations.

In my experience, for example, what complaints I have with a new environment often boil down to an expression of the awkwardness in having to adjust to the differences in a new setting. Complaints are not all invalid, but some are likely to be resolved when we stop focusing on where we came from and explore our new boundaries.

What we need to do is find ways to take pride in ourselves and in our campus community.

We live in an open, free environment that encourages us to think, to explore and to have fun while we are learning.

There are many ways to take part and take pride in our community on campus. It could be as simple as leaving your dorm-room door open in the evenings and greeting your neighbors.

One could go to the many hall specific activities, such as beach parties, camp outs and movie nights in the lounge.

There is culture to take part in. There’s more than just leisure activities and arts to explore.

One could attend house, hall and even campus-wide student governing meetings and volunteer to maintain and improve our NMU community.

The real message here is that we should all take at least the tiniest moment out of each day to just simply look around and find at least one reason to be thankful that we are here.

We are the assemblage of the great minds of the future.