by Jonny Strain
I don’t think students at Whitworth are aware of how important awareness really is. I think we’re missing that crucial ability to recognize that there are important topics and issues that we need to recognize. Because, if you aren’t aware of something, how are you going to know about it?
So many important issues, such as eating disorders, racism, poverty, human trafficking, and a whole list of others, are needlessly overlooked by students simply because they lack awareness. Whitworth, we need a wake-up call.
I think that we really need to collaborate and come together as a community in order to start a dialogue about this issue. We need to go toward the difficult and start a courageous conversation about what it really means to be aware.
I was thinking we could have an entire week dedicated to awareness. We can have a booth set up during lunch where we can hand out flyers with some important statistics about awareness and stuff, and then maybe end with a bigger event to bring it all together.
Does anyone have any ideas for speakers? Or maybe a band? My cousin from Montana plays guitar, and he’s pretty good. Just throwing it out there.
However, I think a good thing to be aware of as we begin brainstorming ideas for “Awareness” Awareness Week, is that, like, people are coming from a bunch of different backgrounds and all have different experiences when it comes to awareness, and I just think we really need to be respectful of that. This will be a really neat opportunity to love on each other and to be servant leaders.
We should also definitely make “Awareness” Awareness Week t-shirts. But because it’s such a touchy subject, be sure to be wary of where you wear your “Awareness” Awareness Week wares, okay?
Who wants to make the posters? Mike, you’re on it. Those posters you made for the “Maybe Jesus is the One” dating awareness program were legit! We’ll also need to send some campus-wide emails, preferably filled with unrelated pictures of cute cats, because people love that! My spiritual gift is crafting cat-picture emails, so I’ll take that one.
I’m so stoked to start putting this together, you guys! If you have any additional ideas, be sure to throw them my way. I am so excited for this opportunity to learn and grow alongside all of you. Shall we pray?
Questions? Comments? Complaints? Contact jstrain13@my.whitworth.edu