printer-friendly
president's column
Feeding the good
by Barry C. Bartel '84
Picture this: In late December, son Jordan, daughter Leah and I sit on the porch of a house in Haiti, overlooking the capital of Port-au-Prince and the plains on which African slaves once labored to produce sugar cane for their European masters. We had returned to show Jordan where he was born 19 years ago, during Brenda’s and my first term with Mennonite Central Committee.*
We are surrounded by trees, planted as seeds of hope within the last decade, that now rise 20 feet or more to provide shade. In our group are three drummers, bringing together African rhythms. One is Ron, a Caucasian, whose family has stayed and worked in Haiti for more than 20 years. Another is Maputo, an African from Ghana, now a professor of African rhythm and dance at the University of Colorado, on retreat in Haiti. The third drummer is Welele, a young Haitian who says he never learned the rhythms, he was born with them.
These three men – North American, African and Haitian – weave incredible rhythms here in the world’s first black republic, where slaves banded together and demanded independence from France in 1804. It is now New Year’s Eve and the eve of Haitian Independence Day. Other friends from Haiti and North America join us.
We gather to celebrate and remember. In that moment, a Haitian man named Dja poses a riddle. He says he has two dogs in his yard, one aggressive and mean, the other friendly and welcoming. Which of the two dogs will be dominant? Dja asks. We all reflect on the obvious answer and the symbolic meaning and try to extract something interesting or profound, until Dja answers the riddle: The dog that will dominate is the dog I feed. We all have capacity for good and for evil, he says, and that which prevails is what we nurture.
In this setting of people of European and African and now-Haitian slave descent, where beautiful rhythms have sung through the night air, in this context of poverty and pain but also liberation and trees and other signs of hope, the message for Independence Day and for the new year focuses on recognizing our own capacity for evil and thus on the importance of feeding our capacity for good.
There are equally inspiring moments on our campus.
- Hannah Klaassen ’06 inspired us in convocation with stories of her service in Kansas City: tear-jerkers, uplifting anecdotes, life-changing relationships, hilarious encounters and jaw-dropping stories. Feeding the good.
- Concert Choir and Jazz Combo performed for convocation and for state music educator meetings – excellent music by students with majors across the college. Feeding the good.
- Visiting performer Huron Breaux from Wichita – in a service where students Adam Gabriel, Tarson Powers, Angelo Garibaldi and Krishna Phifer reflected on the impact of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy in their lives – shared his perception of people at Bethel as “practitioners of Jesus!” Feeding the good.
- Senior Jeff Buller studied wind energy for his senior physics seminar, informing our campus on alternative energy sources. Feeding the good.
- The unique lamplighting ceremony for nursing students challenged a new class of juniors to fulfill their calling of service. Feeding the good.
Bethel College excels at feeding the good. You see it in multiple student activities – feeding the good through the arts, sciences and humanities, athletics, service, forensics and so much more. You see it in faculty teaching and mentoring and modeling. And you see it in the countless untold stories of those reading the words on this page. Thank you for helping Bethel College feed the good!
*Read more in the March 2008 archives.