I am writing this column on Oct. 12, Indigenous Peoples Day. It is a day for honoring the history, culture and traditions of Indigenous peoples scattered across this continent. Of course, the commemoration brings a mixture of regret and respect. The shameful treatment of the ancient inhabitants of this land by our immigrant ancestors cannot be overlooked or excused. Yet, rising above the regret is a soaring respect for the ways and wisdom of Indigenous peoples.
One of the enduring values that Indigenous peoples passed on from elders to offspring, from generation to generation, was a deep sense of connectedness. Unlike modern Western civilization in which the lone individual acting in self-interest is the highest good, Indigenous peoples advocated a different way. They taught community over individuality, interdependence over independence, mutual responsibility over personal freedom.
Among the Navajo, for example, the most disparaging remark that could be made about someone was, “He acts like he has no relatives.” Such a person was living with little concern for anyone or anything but themselves. Indigenous people imagined a great tapestry of life in which the individual was tightly woven into the common fabric of family and community, earth and animals, past and future. They saw themselves, not as owners of anything, but as stewards of everything that creation and their ancestors had gifted to them.
In the next few days, we will be celebrating the installation of the 19th president of Mercer University, Penny L. Elkins, Ph.D. This historic moment will be commemorated in many wonderful ways, culminating in an investiture ceremony on Oct. 29. President Elkins, however, has made it very clear, and on numerous occasions, that this not about her; it is about “Big Mercer.”
What a wise and thoughtful sentiment. In her deference, President Elkins is acknowledging her inseparable connection to the larger Mercer story. Her investiture is another thread, albeit a golden one, woven into the great Mercer tapestry, a tapestry framed with dangling threads on every edge waiting to be included in Mercer’s ever-expanding warp and woof.
President Elkins’ investiture as president is not so much an honorific event, lifting up her own personal achievement. Rather, it is a serious and sacred acceptance of her stewardship — not ownership — over what has been gifted to her by 18 predecessors and generations of students, faculty, staff and loyal supporters of Mercer.
The various Countdown to 19 events create a way for President Elkins and the entire Mercer community to remember (re-member) that we are part of something much larger than ourselves and much greater than our single moment. We are forever connected to our ancestors: Jesse Mercer; Billington Sanders; Adiel Sherwood; Joseph “Papa Joe” Hendricks, Ph.D; Jean Hendricks, Ph.D.; Judge William Augustus Bootle; Bob Otto, Th.D.; Mary Wilder, Ph.D.; Tom Trimble; Peter Brown, Ph.D.; Mary Alice Morgan, Ph.D.; R. Kirby Godsey, Ph.D., Th.D.; William D. Underwood, J.D.; and thousands more Mercerians who have come before us and thousands more who will come after us, embracing and engaging the full promise of Mercer University.
When all of the ceremonies have concluded and the celebrations have been neatly packed away, it will be our turn to write the next chapter, to weave the next threads, and to fashion the gift that we will hand to future Mercerians. May we give as bountifully as we have received.
In the spirit of our Indigenous ancestors, during these historic days, let us remember our relatives — past, present and future — whose lives and hopes are joined with ours.
