agree with disagreement

This week campus has had an interesting visitor. Brother Micah has made his return to Clemson to preach at students about how they are all going to Hell. I have not personally met him (or seen him, but he is on y'all's side of campus, so maybe you have witnessed him) but from what my student's have been telling me, he just stands outside yelling at people.

This is not his first trip to Tigertown. He was here last year with the same convictions, but this time is making me a little more angry than his former appearance. What good does he hope to accomplish? I'm assuming his hopes are that all us wicked sinner students will suddenly see some light, repent of our sins and bow at his feet asking him to lead us to Jesus. But unfortunately, his tactics are doing nothing more than reinforcing nonreligious peoples preconceived notions and is placing him on a long list of televangelists with bad hair that get nowhere in the hearts of nonchristians.

And then it hit me. Our discussion last week of our MEmorials filled me with ideas, but all the choices we had discussed would lead to a similar outcome as Brother Micah. If I send out postcards to each person that visits an anti-southern site or video, that's going to do nothing except annoy those that get the postcard or e-mail and reinforce that person's dislike of all things related to the south. As I continued to mull over possibilities throughout the week, I decided to take a very Church-y approach to my topic (which seems to fit well with my chosen MEmorial because of how influential the Church has been to its history). I have sat through many sermons discussing the plank in one's eye parable. Attaching that to my MEmorial, I should try to fix the South before I can hope to change the attitudes of those outside this area starting with placing my MEmorial in Anderson (which is where I have spent much of my life). I want to create an electronic memorial on the former site of the American Legion statue that was stolen a couple of years ago. I want to create a holographic symbol that projects from the feet of the missing statue discussing the manners and traditions that make up southern hospitality and culture.

I'm not sure exactly how I want to do this, but that's where I'm headed...to Anderson...to battle the rednecks head on with education. It's gonna be like dumping salt on a slug :)