Last month was the closest I’ve ever been to Sully during Silver Taps.
I could clearly hear the boots of the Ross Volunteers, hear each adjustment of their rifles.
I could hear the sniffles of mourning family members, the shuffling of feet on the pebbled cement in Academic Plaza.
I was incredibly disappointed with where I was standing during October’s Silver Taps. Not because it’s necessarily bad to be closer to the center, but because I was only able to stand so close because there were so few people in attendance.
The first Silver Taps of the semester I was barely able to stand on the grass in Academic Plaza. I couldn’t hear the marching of the Ross Volunteers at all. All I heard was the silence surrounding me, broken by the salute.
As the semester approaches test season and other obligations become more demanding, it’s imperative that students remember to take time off from studying, homework and class projects to honor our fellow Aggies.
We all have tests and obligations bothering us. We could all use the extra hour of sleep or studying Silver Taps takes up. But for the students we stand for during the ceremony, they don’t have the option of opting out.
They don’t have the chance anymore to study long hours for tomorrow’s chemistry exam.
They don’t have the chance anymore to watch that extra episode of “Friends.”
They don’t have the chance anymore to get that extra hour of sleep.
Standing in the dark of Academic Plaza each first Tuesday of the month should serve as a time for students to put things into perspective. As you’re standing there, suddenly that essay doesn’t seem quite as important as it did when you first got there. Suddenly that group project isn’t the disaster you were lamenting it to be. Not when you are standing next to a student’s family who is experiencing a real disaster.
So when you’re weighing the pros and the cons of whether or not to go to Silver Taps on Tuesday, remember that while you may be stressed about the upcoming test or paper, the people you stand for in Academic Plaza don’t have the opportunity or the gift of having those same opportunities anymore.
Sam King is a communication sophomore and city editor for The Battalion.