People ask my all the time why I chose Tabor. Or they ask me if I am liking it at Tabor and when I say yes ask me why I feel that way. I've always given an answer, something like 'it's a great school' or 'I feel at home there' or whatever. But this week I feel like I've discovered the real reason I love it here at Tabor. It's simple really. It is different then any other school.
When I chose to attend Tabor a year and a half ago it was for purely academic reasons. They had my major and they taught from a different perspective. I didn't know enough about the school to know what else I was getting.
This week has been a hard one for Tabor College. Last weekend a student was involved in an altercation with a rival school. It was very bad. The student was on life support in a hospital, in critical condition. The student was new, he had just transferred here from California to play football. And then he was beaten. And the student body responded in a way that I don't think you would see at many other schools. They got together and they prayed. Many people, myself included, did not know him. The first I had heard of this student was when he was dying. But I prayed for him. I prayed for a miracle. Because at Tabor, it doesn't matter if I knew him or not. What matters is that he is part of our community and when one hurts, we all hurt.
Violence is not a new thing to me. I grew up in a big city, with
increasing gang violence, and where murders and deaths are expected. I
can't tell you how many times I've heard of a death on the news and then
shrugged it off and went on with my life. Because it didn't effect my
life. When I picture this same situation happening at SFU I feel the
response would have been the same. It would have impacted those who knew
him and everyone else would have walked away unchanged.
We didn't get a miracle. The student unfortunately died last night after a week of fighting. He leaves behind parents, a fiancee, and two young kids. There will be fallout from his death. Somewhere there is another kid who now has to live with the knowledge that he killed someone. There are two kids who will grow up not knowing their father. And who knows what will happen at Tabor. We prayed for a miracle and God answered with a "no".
But there is one thing that this week taught me: whatever happens now, the students at Tabor will unite together and will get through it together. We will surround those at Tabor who knew him and we will help them. Because we are a community. We are a place that loves people and helps people.
And that is why Tabor is different. I will not walk away from this unchanged. Violence here is not expected, nor should it be anywhere, and death effects everyone. This death reminds me that life is fragile, that we each have a finite number of days here, to appreciate what I have, to focus on the present. It makes me contemplate my own mortality and what I want to be remembered for. And it makes me thankful that God brought me here, to this community that is Tabor, to a place that lives out God in everything they do.
Tabor showed our true colors this week and will continue to do so in the weeks to come. This is a place where everyone is connected in some way. Where we are "one family, one voice, and one heart" as one student told the media.
This is a news clip made early last week, before Brandon died, and it is the answer to the question of why I like Tabor:
http://www.kake.com/home/headlines/Tabor-Students-Offer-Spiritual-Support-For-Injured-Football-Player-Each-Other-170444286.html
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