The Greenville College Years

It's now 2:04 a.m. on a Wednesday morning. What would inspire me to start a Papyrus column this time of night? (O.K., I don't have any Wednesday classes, but that's not the main reason.)

The real reason is I just got off the phone with Washington.

No, I wasn't being briefed on national security. The voice on the other end belonged to GC senior Dan Boyle.

Dan and junior William Choy are participants in the American Studies Program. The program unites Christian college students in a living/learning center near Capital Hill. The students take classes together for part of the day and then leave for various D.C. internships.

Dan is especially fortunate. He works for U.S. Rep. Jim Talent (R-Mo.).

Dan asked how I was doing, and I began to tell him about my semester. I gave the usual Greenville gossip—uh I mean news—and told about some complaints over my Senior Skip article, mentioned that Jars of Clay are being played on St. Louis radio stations, etc. In other words, I rambled as I usually do in a conversation at 1:30 a.m. (That's 2:30 in Washington.)

Suddenly, I came to an embarrassing revelation. Dan strolls the corridors of the nation's political institutions daily, but I was the one doing the talking. I quickly stopped my babbling and asked what he had done that evening.

Dan replied that he had been to a charity fundraiser with '95 GC grad Jay Ditty and Ditty’s boss, Donald Dell, the president of ProServ Sports. Dan, in his nonchalant manner, mentioned that he'd met a few sports celebrities.

I asked, "Are you and Jim Talent pretty close now?" He responded that Talent sought his advice on various matters. I laughed, because I assumed Dan was joking. Then I realized Dan was serious.

Dan said he was up late because of a paper and mentioned he was also preparing for an upcoming subcommittee hearing. I asked what he meant.

He said Talent was in charge of a subcommittee, and the congressman had handed over the preparation for the subcommittee's hearing to Dan.

"Say hi to Newt for me," I joked before the conversation ended.

Dan replied, "Oh, I shook his hand last week."

It is hard to believe that my friend is planning subcommittee hearings or shaking the Speaker of the House's hand.

  Hearing of Dan's experiences caused a reaction that was similar to my reaction when I saw pictures of President Smith shaking hands with Fidel Castro or when I learned that Provost Raymond knows former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop and refers to the doctor using an odd nickname.

I remember my disbelief when Dan wrote to me last month about going to the State of the Union Address. Dan wrote, "The morning of the address, I jokingly asked in the office if there were any spare tickets, and they said that the office had one and that I was welcome to it."

The same letter related how Dan "snuck into the French President's speech to Congress."

Perhaps, this column sounds a bit absorbed with the cult of celebrity. Aren't Christians supposed to associate with people of low position?

After all, The apostle James commanded, "Don't show favoritism." We should treat everyone with respect.

If the opportunity arises to both meet and work with important people, however, a Christian should view the opportunity as a God-given way to influence society. The most remarkable thing about Dan's situation is not that he is meeting important people; it is his humble attitude.

As Greenville College students, we can't all walk the halls of Congress. We can, however, take advantage of opportunities to serve and to improve our world —instead of feeling sorry for ourselves and doing nothing. A semester in Washington is only one of many tremendous opportunities offered to GC students. There are trips, service projects, and internships. A student just needs to make the effort to discover them.

Recently, sophomore Nathaniel West submitted a column to the St. Louis Post Dispatch. The paper's staff rejected it. Nathaniel remained undaunted. He wrote and submitted another one, and they published it!

Nathaniel's perseverance, good writing, and boldness put him before the eyes of thousands (and earned him a $70 check, too). The column articulately expressed a rejection of cultural pessimism and even quoted the Bible.

Get off your derriere and make something of yourself. Who knows? You might get to meet some pretty powerful people or improve the lives of some pretty powerless people.