2008 Woodie Awards
Ignatian Corner: Set your standards in September
Daniel Joyce, S.J.
Issue date: 9/26/07 Section: Features
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Do you have any standards at all? Do you have standards for the type of clothes you will buy? Do you have standards for the type of food you will eat? Do you have standards for what you want to accomplish or for the type of person you want to date?
Standards-that was what Ignatius of Loyola was asking about when he got thrown into a student residence at the University of Paris. As an older student who wasted part of his life using pretty low standards, he wanted to know if the guys in his dormitory were people with goals, serious ambitions, and character. His sense of standards turned out to be far more important than fashion tastes or career interests.
Ignatius wanted to know about the standards he had for himself-the values that would help to shape the person he wanted to be. He wanted friends who had high standards for themselves as well.
Your standards and values may be on your mind at this time. Usually it is about five weeks into the school year that you begin to get a sense of the people with whom you are living.
Some room or hallmates are new to you. For others, you are with someone you know, but not as a roommate. Yet others may be upperclass students who have just moved into an apartment or house with friends you thought you knew; however, now you need to make domestic choices about paying the rent, keeping the house clean, and respecting each other's space and study time. Differing values can strain that old friendship more than a bit.
These sorts of tensions between college friends may be a good thing. It may signal the time for you to do some deeper thinking about your own values so that you can be honest with the people in your hall or apartment. Serious thinking about what you feel is healthy and respectful living is a requirement for being an adult.
At this point in your life, you can recognize that you bring with you certain values from your family, your faith, and your own community. These values are important and need to be respected. College is a time to be honest with others about what you will and will not tolerate in your room, hall, or apartment.
Standards-that was what Ignatius of Loyola was asking about when he got thrown into a student residence at the University of Paris. As an older student who wasted part of his life using pretty low standards, he wanted to know if the guys in his dormitory were people with goals, serious ambitions, and character. His sense of standards turned out to be far more important than fashion tastes or career interests.
Ignatius wanted to know about the standards he had for himself-the values that would help to shape the person he wanted to be. He wanted friends who had high standards for themselves as well.
Your standards and values may be on your mind at this time. Usually it is about five weeks into the school year that you begin to get a sense of the people with whom you are living.
Some room or hallmates are new to you. For others, you are with someone you know, but not as a roommate. Yet others may be upperclass students who have just moved into an apartment or house with friends you thought you knew; however, now you need to make domestic choices about paying the rent, keeping the house clean, and respecting each other's space and study time. Differing values can strain that old friendship more than a bit.
These sorts of tensions between college friends may be a good thing. It may signal the time for you to do some deeper thinking about your own values so that you can be honest with the people in your hall or apartment. Serious thinking about what you feel is healthy and respectful living is a requirement for being an adult.
At this point in your life, you can recognize that you bring with you certain values from your family, your faith, and your own community. These values are important and need to be respected. College is a time to be honest with others about what you will and will not tolerate in your room, hall, or apartment.
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