“The family is one of nature’s masterpieces” – George Santayana. In my short life it would seem that I found out already that family is both a straightforward and anomalous term all at the same time. But the thought has occurred to me: in life our family is bigger than we realize. As a preface, this though occurred to me late this past Tuesday as I was sitting on a bus bound for Westminster College after spending four days at the American Model United Nations conference, where I represented Yemen in the International Atomic Energy Agency. After a long four days of creating UN resolutions from scratch, spending long hours debating the issues that present themselves each day in the international policy arena, and laughing at endless inside jokes that only a hardcore policy nerd could understand. Those people are part of my family. Though we come from different walks of life, these people mean a great deal to me.
I have learned that family is not defined by physical limitations. For example, when I was younger I would often get horribly distraught when my dad would leave for Harrisburg to do his part in representing the people of the 67th district. Now I understand that it doesn’t matter whether we’re at the house in Turtlepoint or we’re miles apart, my mom, dad, and two sisters are always right there with me. They are God’s greatest blessing. Family is wherever you are, and that will never change. From a young age my father and grandfathers taught me the meaning of family, now I finally understand what they mean.
I’ve also learned that family members come when we least expect them. If you would have asked pre-college Matt Causer if he would be in Theta Chi fraternity, and I would have laughed hysterically. Now, I cannot imagine life without my brothers. To a broader point, I cannot imagine not being Greek. I say this for a multitude of reasons, the first of which being that it has enabled me to do a lot of good in this world. Nothing else has allowed me to help disaster victims and wounded soldiers coming home. The second reason is that it has enabled me to meet people from every way and walk of life. When it comes to Westminster in specific, I find it fascinating that regardless of the letters, brothers from different fraternities and sisters from their sororities alike act as one big family. No matter the oath, the badge, or the letters, we are truly together as of old. No matter what, we are thankful for each other’s friendship and respect. For it is as the scripture commands in 1 Peter 4:8 “above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins”.
Even though thanksgiving has passed, there are many things in this world I am thankful for, and chances are if you’re reading this, then you are one of them. In a way, I pray that we live each day in the spirit of Thanksgiving, for we remember our many blessings and ask them to continue on . As the singer Bobby Darin once said “if I had this to do again, and the evening were new again, I would spend it with you again.”
