Tomorrow is the Lehigh-Lafayette football game. Lehigh and Lafayette have been lifelong rivals. Lehigh students show their school spirit through their dislike for Lafayette. Students wear brown all week. The school gives out Lehigh-Lafayette shirts. People celebrate like never before.
Le-Laf brings out a spirit in students that isn't seen at any other time of the year. Students feel united at this time to every other Lehigh student because they all share the common desire for Lehigh to win and Lafayette to lose. While I feel that I am a part of this community, I don't feel a deep hatred or dislike for Lafayette. If I meet someone who goes to Lafayette, I don't have anything against him as a person at all. Just because he goes to Lafayette does not mean that he isn't a good person. However, instilled in us as Lehigh students is the necessary rivalry attitude toward Lafayette students.
Often when we are a part of a group, we accept the group's beliefs and ideas without proper substantiation for why, except for the fact that it is what others are doing. Peer pressure. Following others. Being a sheep in the pack. These terms all describe what a majority of people do. They adopt the beliefs of the group that they are a part of. Instead they should pave their own paths and do things because they want to.
Communities have advantages, but they also have some negative effects. Being a part of a group encourages people to be a member of that group rather than a leader of one's own thoughts. Too often are we stander-byers and passivists instead of leaders and activists. While I may partake in the rivalrous activities of Le-Laf, I do not have anything against people who go to Lafayette or Lafayette as a school. Instead I have spirit for my team not hatred for the other team. Think with a positive rather than negative in mind; cheer with spirit for your team not dislike for the other.
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