Independence on the Road to Freedom

My freshman year of college I was in a freshman dorm. It was the closest thing to what my Private Christian Liberal Arts College had to a fraternity. Bowman House for many was where many “boys became men.” The chant that I remember hearing so often was “where we go one, we go all; Bowman House.”

            I grew close to a lot of the guys in our dorm. Some of my best friends today came out of my freshman year in Bowman. It was a place for many to learn what community was. Bowman House had regular meetings to build community as well as many other activities throughout the year. However as a freshman I really did not care to attend these meetings, so I skipped out. It was nearing the end of our freshman year and some of my friends who had not skipped out were selected to leadership positions in Bowman during our sophomore year.

            When one of the leadership positions opened up, I went and talked to Rob, the RD, about the possibility of the position. He told me while he saw me as a leader, because I had not joined in the community like I could have, he would not accept me for the position.

            It was during this time that I realized my independence was keeping me from actually taking part in the things that I wanted to do. Everybody has freedom, but with this freedom comes the ability for choice. When one does not choose responsibility then there are at times consequences. In my case I could not be a leader in Bowman because I had chosen to skip out on the house meetings.

            Freedom is a powerful thing. We allow the freedoms that we have to change us. We allow the freedoms to help us grow. But at the same time it could change us for the worse, it could lead us away from what we really truly desire for our lives. For this I am thankful of choice. But on this road to freedom, I wondered if needed something more.