Read this great piece in the Columbia Spectator by junior Dov Friedman.
The point of the piece is to discuss flaws in the discourse surrounding Arab perceptions of Americans. But he also notes, in surprise, that despite a work schedule that is physically grueling and intense, he feels motivated in a way that he never did at Columbia’s Morningside campus.
Yet, over the last three weeks, I have discovered a different kind of intensity. The middle month has centered on archaeological fieldwork in a fourth century Roman city. Alarm clocks ring at 5:45 a.m., and we excavate from 7:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. Another two afternoon hours are spent working at home. The intensity here is one of a collective mission. The excavation season is short and there is a tremendous amount to accomplish. Everyone here is passionate about archaeology, and the sense of collective responsibility means that no one wants to let others down. An otherwise brutal schedule becomes manageable, even desirable. Unlike the taxing intensity of New York, the intensity of this team of people has been invigorating.
This camaraderie is the type of feeling that I experienced daily growing up in my youth movement, and also when I served in the army. It comes from being part of a society or team serving something larger, beyond oneself. One of my greatest challenges when I got to Columbia was the extreme aloneness that can exist even amidst multitudes of people on campus. That aloneness structures the learning experience there. There’s friendship, and “hanging out,” but there’s not shared mission or camaraderie. In the end of the day, when the final needs to get done, or the paper needs to be turned in, the individual student stands alone for four years. And when four years are over it’s about what job you and you alone are going to get, and this reflects backwards on the whole experience.
I don’t have a solution, but I suspect winds of change are blowing. Columbia seems inevitable in the culture of America during the 80’s and 90’s, but not today. People are looking for meaning and motivation that extends beyond financial and material achievement. Like Dov, I tasted what it means to be on a team and have shared cause and true collaboration. And maybe if enough of us experience that increasingly rare feeling it will remind us that humans are not meant to be alone.
[Hat Tip: BW]
