What Should We Remember?
For the 2016-2017 academic year, the question What Should We Remember? has been selected as the theme. The question was crafted by senior public relations major Michael Kearney and assistant communications professor Dr. Joel Ward.
The question What Should We Remember? has been addressed in manner of ways, including a photography project, multiple films with interviews, and other documentary films. GVALS speaker Dr. David Dark addressed the question during his visit to Geneva, and professors have incorporated the Geneva Question into their classes.
By asking the question What Should We Remember?, Geneva addresses an idea that is fading from Western culture, the idea that certain things ought to be remembered. In their essay, Kearney and Ward delve into this and many other reasons why remembrance is so important in the age of technology.
Authors: Michael Kearney (Class of 2017) and Dr. Joel S. Ward, Assistant Professor of Communication
Pictures mark almost every important event we currently experience. Our growing interest in keeping records of life events should indicate that we find our personal memory insufficient. We cannot remember everything we want to. Despite our best attempts, we preserve incomplete records, sometimes with intention, many times without.
Memories rightly kept are the substance of faithfulness and hope. However, memories scattered across a sea of information dissipate, failing to support the recollection of who we are, where we came from, and how our lives should be lived. In fact, we complicate the problem by generating our own infinite record that requires tireless curation. Weary and floundering, we are ill prepared in the moment to know what ought to be stored up and treasured in our hearts.
What should we remember? We must each answer this question to understand our vocations as students and professors, our mission as a college, and our identity as followers of Christ.
Collegiate education requires reading thousands of pages and studying for numerous exams. Students already too familiar with the problem of limited memory ask, “Is this going to be on the final?” What should students remember at the end of a semester, beyond graduation? When faced with life’s most difficult questions will they recall what is necessary for a confident and careful response? Even professors are not exempt from answering this prompt. What responsibility do they bear for guiding the young wisely?
Geneva College’s seal reminds us that our work is a living testament to the word of God. The Scriptures emphasize the importance of memory, and our special sacraments of remembrance encourage us in faith. The author of Ecclesiastes exhorts the reader to “remember now your creator in the days of your youth” (Ecc. 12:1) and at Christ’s communion table we are invited with the words “this is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me” (I Corinthians 11:25).
Following Christ obligates the Christian to “forget not all His benefits” (Psalm 103:2) encouraging greater attentiveness to our daily joys and sorrows, our successes and defeats. What helps us cherish the smaller moments alongside the grander scope of God’s providence? The question, “What should we remember?” needs to be answered if as individuals and as a college community we are to have hope and faith for tomorrow.