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THK MERCER CLUSTER
SEPTEMBER 29. OT3
Sin Bravely
crucial issues of human
dimension which we must deal
with if we are tc retain our
humanity.
la it not true, then, that Mercer
should be a community In which
life-giving skills are obtainable, a
community in which Intimacy is
possible (where we may touch
one another spiritually) and in
which one may grow in con
fidence Tiv one’s abilities?' To
begin, might each academic
department immediately take up
the task of assessing itself and
determining what its purpose is,
Back-Ahead
Editor'! Note:
In the course of the Waverly
conversations. It was felt by
many that Mercer University
must now carefully reconsider
her position regarding the 'real'
world outside. What follows here
Is a summation-reflection on
these dl%cusslons as seen by Dr.
Louis Becker and Dr. Michael
Cass.
“Sin Bravely!” must surely
stand as the summary of, and
charge to. the 1V73 Waverly
Conference.
Reports of working committees
and the final Town Meeting,
session on Tuesday night focused
often on “The Crunch” and the
recognition that living in a
universe which may already
have passed its point of
ecological Fall-Safe creates a
feeling of impotence and
desperation.
Rather than providing an
swers—for, indeed, in times such
as ours neither the appropriate
questions, nor answers to them,
were clear to the participants—
the final Waverly sessions cen
tered on ways of living in the
world even If there will be no
world. Community, loneliness,
isolation, humaneness,
stewardship, dignity, surfaced
again and again as the group
confronted and grappled with the
role of Man in general—and the
Mercer community in par
ticular—in perhaps the first era
in which humanity has perceived
the mortality of the biosphere.
Despite the consensus that we
are, indeed, fallen on evil times,
the Tuesday evening marathon
which had begun as a requiem
celebration somehow tran
scended its own initial despair
and spoke—hesitantly at A first, ourselves and that they have all
then firmly and clearly—to the been unavailing. We can help lift
given the survival crisis?
Should Mercer "tear down” the
walls which barricade our in
tellectual pursuits from the
concrete experience which is
available in the world around us?
Or, on the contrary, may Mercer
best serve by walling itself in
from the Barbarians in order to
secure and preserve that which is
worth saving in the dying culture
for its potential future use—as
the medieval monastery
preserved the classical heritage
during the “Dark Ages"?
Bu* the Barbarians are already
within the walls: we are the
Barbarians! How did we get that
way? By growing up in an
anaesthetized culture, one which
keeps us from the reality of our
situation and from responsibility
for the consequences of our ac
tions by encouraging in us the
escapes of, for instance, drugs
and television. Mercer in too
many cases is offering only four
more years of anaesthesia , we
are not preparing ourselves for a
very unaesthetic future. How can
we prepare ourselves? Perhaps
by talking to ourselves about
ourselves, by examining how we
are each Involved in perpetrating
a destructive culture.
If Romano Guardini’s
prediction be accurate
(“Loneliness in faith will be
terrible. Love will disappear
from the face of the public world,
but the more precious will be that
love which flows from one lonely
person to another.”), then one
role for Mercer might be that of
bringing together lonely persons
and offering them values. We can
help each other see that we have
tried all the ways of saving
It would seem *» though therw
is very little to look forward to
anymore. Ill never be able to
wear a zoot-suit, 111 never be able
to take a ride in a chariot. Ill
never even be able to get drunk
on illegal liquor, in fact,
about the only thing I can look
forward to is living in a 62-story
megalopolitan (hey. .what?)
condominium with my mother-in
law and a television. I'm afraid
that the future holds just about as
little for me as did the past, bless
its heart. Which is pretty
disheartening
Of course, there is always the
present to play around with. But
there's not exactly a whole lot to
do with that, except spend the
time wondering whether you’re
doing the right thing or not. Are
you doing the right thing right
now? I’m not But who cares?
There's really no right thing to
do, 1 guess. There are, however,
Looking back. Looking ahead.
Eating. Sleeping.
But who cares? The last time 1
by Reger Cerdes
did was when I fell out of a tree
when I was twelve. I made up my
mind then and there to say to hell
with it, but I didn’t do a very good
job. So here I am, back again (but
who cares?) for another year of
doing who-know what with wbo-
knows whom for who-knows why
Oh, what the hell.
1 guess about the only thing to
really do is keep from taking
myself seriously. It keeps me
occupied, and is, I’ll admit, more
attractive than banging my head
against the wall (autistic?). The
only trouble came when I began
to take things (and-or people)
less seriously, in fact, I didn’t
take them seriously at all! But,
being the fool I am. 1 didn’t see
that they wanted (moreover,
needed) to be taken seriously,
and did not at oil like being made
the least bit light of. This is a
serious matter. This is serious."
Back again. Who knows why
(who cares?)? There must be
something (1 think I read it once
as "The Magic of Mercer”) but I
don’t think that very many people
found it last year, nor wiU many
this year, nor any other year to
come. They lost it by obeying the
rules (taking them seriously), by
looking in from the outside. TJiey
don’t realize that in their roles as
upstanding personalities of the
school that this is their school,
and that if they want to flit
around, they damn well can
(without seven petitions which
may only get then. * > the door
anyway). They pay enough to get
away, they pay to come here, and
if they want to get part of their
money’s worth, they don’t have to
pay any more. If they knew, they
wouldn’t.
But you can’t go around telling
people that, it doesn’t make any
sense. There’s really no reason
why bother? You just can’t get
upset over anything. This is
probably just some other way
out. It doesn’t matter. No way is
better than any other*way.
Dear Freshman;
the fogs of secularism; we can
look at the source of our
aimlessness and offer aim. A
Christian college can do this
more effectively than an in
stitution of the state.
Thus—“Sin Bravely!" Act with
courage and passion and awe in
behalf of the human community,
and, in the spirit of a tradition
that echoes from* Martin Luther
to Martin Luther King, “Keep on
keepin' on!” r
Lou Becker
Mike Cass
Dear Freshman:
Two weeks have now passed
since your arrival on the Mercer
campus. Thirteen days of settling
in, figuring out classes and class
schedules, meeting new people,
confronting new ideas. In
essence; adjusting. Trying to
make the break from family ties
and home town heartaches, from
the security of high school and its
many friendships, to the new and
different experience of college
life is not easy. Those here before
you at Mercer have also bad to
make the same kinds of ad
justments and 'nopefully will be
sympathetic not cynical should
you need to talk to up
perclassmen during these con
fusing first weeks.
It is unfortunate though that
there will be still more decisions
placed upon you in the next
couple of weeks. Many of you
were probably very involved in
your high schools; through your
student councils, drama groups,
school publications, athletic
teams, and other organizations
you found avenues for expressing
yourself and your talents and
were able to be an integral part of
the high school experience
We nope that you will find the
same thing to be true for you at
Mercer University. Here too,
there are many niches into which
during these first days involves
the fraternity and sorority
system. Rush will soon be in full
swing, and while many of you
have probably already come to
you and your talents can find terms with the question, there
Speak Up Or Shut Up
proper expression and support.
The SGA has places for
numerous individuals to go to
work immediately. There not
only is the upcoming election for
freshmen senators but are
vacancies on many of the stan
ding SGA committees which
essentially do the decision
making for the senate. The
Cauldron, the Cluster and The
Plucked Dulcimer are constantly
on the watch for new people with
new ideas who have photography,
journalism, and literary in
terests. The drama department
not only needs actors and ac
tresses but also utilizes numbers
of students in many different
technical aspects of the theatre.
The Inter-Faith house not only
sponsors religious activities but
also conducts many social
programs in which student
support is necessary. We have
mentioned but a few possibilities
here, there are many others you
will also find, should you care to
step outside the confutes of your
dorm room and take a look.
For many students, one of the
major decisions they must make
As to whether the student body
at Mercer University is unusually
non-vocal, unopinionated, not to
say apathetic. The Cluster will
not here attempt to decide. The
Cluster does here, however, offer
her tender, tabloid body as the
mo6t immediate, expedient outlet
available to those same students,
should they ever feel the need to
be vocal, opinionated, etc.
Specifically, the Letters to the
Editor column is always ready
and willing to print any letter
about any thing, written by any
body (the only restriction being
X every letter must bear the
ature of the author). Editing
is kept to a minimum and under
no circumstances will the Cluster
censor anyone's opinion,
providing that opinion be ex
pressed in an intelligent and-or
tasteful manner. We do ask that
all letters be typewritten and
double-spaced (but will review
cases of non-typists) in order to
prevent damaging misin
terpretation by the editors of The
Cluster. Letters may he mailed
to: The Cluster, Box 110 or
brought personally to the office.
In addition to the Letters
column, the Cluster is open to-
suggestions about, and help with,
articles any student feels should
be written. The paper's office
hours are from 10-11 in the
morning and from 12-2 in the
afternoon, Monday, Tuesday,
Thursday, and Friday, plus
almost all day Wednesday. The
Cluster office is located upstairs
in the Connell Student Center,
across from Julian Gordy’s of
fice. Any organization or in
dividual desiring to have
something-anything published in
the Cluster is welcome to submit
their copy to the Cluster office
before noon on vVednesday (to
appear in the paper that will be
circulated the following Mon
day).
Again the Cluster wishes to
stress the fact that it is an organ
of the mass, of the students,
(graduate, law, and plain).
Faculty members are also en
couraged to address the staff
with any advice, complaints, raw
emotion they may feel inclined to
so proffer. T?>e Cluster attempts
at all times to be both responsive
and responsible; not a bad policy
for any organ of any said mass.
are others among you who may
still be uncertain. We wish to
suggest that you tclk to students
on both sides of the question,
consider carefully the ad
vantages and disadvantages
which this social affiliation may
inevitably force upon you.
Despite Mercer’s small size,
there still exists somewhat of a
separation between these two
bodies. One must weigh the so-
called "social security” against
the inheritance of political, racial
and historical stigmas as well.
The amazing diversity of both
the student body and faculty
should enable all of you to find not
merely acquaintances but
friends.
The decision does of course rest
with you. Let us urge you to
consider though that the types of
interests you wish to pursue are
not at all determined by your
social affiliation, nor should one
feel that his social life will be
curtailed should he choose not to
become a part of the Greek
system.
We write this letter as in-
Cootinued On Page 5
The Mercer Ouster
Editor la Chief
Managing Editor
Bos In ess and Advertising Manager
Sports Editor
Editorialist
Photographer
Jan Suffolk
Eliza heth Holloway
Bob Goodwin
Robert Alexander
Roger Cordes
Ash Williams
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Woodard. Doug Hardy, Henry Htbbert. Charlie Roberta. Karen
Murphey, Majorle Mayfield. Walter Boatoa. Steve Causey.
Bruno von for.tn.eyer, John Dunn, Joseph Terry, Charte.
r arnngton.
Published weekly by the .Indent, of Mercer Unlvermity. Addreo.
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