“Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.”~Mark TwainI’ve never been real big on ceremonial rites, but I must say that Richmond College put on a good show with investiture. Pictures were taken, traditions were explained, advice was given, and everyone signed the honor pledge.As a freshman guy, it felt good to put on nice threads and see my colleagues in all their splendor. T-shirts are fine, but a crisp suit does wonders for the ego.While the general consensus was that standing still for a panoramic photo in late summer weather is not enjoyable, I think the chance to be immortalized in a class picture was worth it. I mean, who knows? If even one person in that photo becomes famous, we’ll be able to make comments in 20/20 hindsight saying ‘I knew so-and-so, he was a winner right from the start’. The process was well organized, and the photographers knew what they were doing, which is more than I can say for any other large group photo I’ve been part of.
Slightly moist from the heat, we all tramped over to the Cannon Memorial Chapel for the official procedings. Nearly scratching my face on a pine bough held by an upperclassman, I couldn’t help but wonder at the meaning of all those tree limbs being held over us as we went in. Fortunately, I was able to get my grimy mitts on a program which explained that”The pines, like the men of Richmond College, both change and remain the same. Old limbs fall way, new limbs take thier place, but in the process of change, the tree becomes a little taller, and a little more majestic.”The speeches we recieved were light hearted, candid, and to the point, a huge relief to those of us with short attention spans. The gist of it was that we should all be open to change, and use our time here to explore life in as many ways as possible.After singing The alma mater by candlelight, we cut to the chase and signed the honor code. I say ‘cut to the chase’ because I have a special place in my heart for the honor code and the steely-eyed men and women who handle violations. Whenever I leave my spidercard and keys on a shelf in the gym, or leave my laptop sitting on a table in the library, I know with reasonable certaintly that they will all be there when I get back. In fact, I feel more secure in my belongings at richmond than I do at home. This is all because the honor code provides the basis for a mutual consensus not to steal stuff (among other things) between all the students.The emphasis placed on integrity at Richmond is very real. I’ve seldom been in a place with so many honest people. In the ‘real world’, you can’t leave even inexpensive things in public, because people like to vandalize everything that’s nailed down and anything that isn’t. This kind of malicious behavior is for the most part nonexistant at Richmond, making for a safer and friendlier atmosphere.
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