Good afternoon Mawtards, ... it’s a gorgeous late Summer day and another great day to be a Wildcat
Some thoughts ...
You’ve seen it, my friends, in the little girl wearing the replica K-State cheer squad uniform, her hair adorned with purple ribbons, the little Powercat press-on “tattoo” on her cheek or the one of her in the russian guys basement. You’ve seen it in the quiet confidence of young men, tired to the point of exhaustion, as they dusted the detritus of Field Turf off their sweaty purple and gray and stood, smiling, hands out to welcome fans to the Fan Appreciation event just a few days ago.
You feel it as you check-in online or pick up the morning “inky” to learn that K-State’s enrollment increased dramatically this year, that giving to K-State set a record in hard times or that K-State is predicted to become the epicenter of a major influx of research and investment tied to America’s security. You sense it when you see the fire in Frank Martin’s eyes and understand that a part of it is tied to history, to the teams of the past, to the banners that once hung in Ahearn’s rafters.
You sense it in the crowds that pack the Landon Lecture’s addresses to hear, first-hand, from statesmen, philosophers, news personalities and scholars from around the world. You’re comforted by it in the unique environment of McCain Auditorium as that venue prepares to raise the curtain on its fortieth year of great performances. You acknowledge its subtle presence deep within you when you see LHC Bill Snyder take time off to visit a hospital filled with veterans of the nation’s conflicts.
You walk around the campus, perhaps stopping by Anderson Hall or pausing before the chapter house that was once your home away from home, and in that moment it’s very, very real. Last Saturday, I witnessed it as more than 300 young women and men of the K-State band, sunburned, sweat-soaked, foot-sore and bushed formed up into block band, came to attention and marched with their heads high from Memorial over to McCain to end a long, long practice.
“It” is K-State Pride my friends, and it’s a real and powerful force.
I’m not writing about that braggadocios, shallow pride that ebbs and flows with wins and losses or rests its foundation on the last favorable comment that stoked an ego. Nor is this morning’s bit about the pride that flows in equal proportion to the volume of intoxicants consumed or number of profanities unleashed.
Nope. I’m talking about that deep-seated, heartfelt pride you feel by doing your absolute best, by working hard to accomplish well that “impossible” task and by reaching out, oft against the pressures of peers, to help a neighbor or community member in need. I’m talking about the pride of place that’s unashamed of its home in America’s heartland, that rejoices in the beauty of the Flint Hills and fertile plains and that holds in high esteem equally the doctor, the firefighter, the rancher and farmer, the teacher and builder, the laborer and mechanic, the nurse and architect. It's a value that embraces the blue collars, white collars, camos, the well-off and the struggling as members of one big family.
I’m writing to you this morning about that oft-felt but illusive emotion that makes you well up a bit when a bunch of scrappers makes it to the Elite Eight, when LHC Bill Snyder returns to the sideline after a premature retirement, when you see a purple sunset over the K-State campus ... about that feeling that sweeps over you in later years when you hear the Alma Mater ... that sensation that makes you smile when you hear our university president sound a call to arms to make K-State a national leader in research ... and that sense of relief and invigoration you encounter as you come home to Manhattan.
K-State Pride. You have it or you don’t.
I do. Do you? We, afterall, have much in which to take pride. We’re K-State. Make that pride work for you ... and for us.
In all that you say and do, Make K-State Proud of YOU Today!
Later tards.
