More than 100 Aggies will be honored at Tuesday’s Muster ceremony. Many of their stories are long and fruitful; some were cut tragically short. It is hard to find joy in a life lost, but Muster calls the Aggie family to do just that — to not only mourn those who will never walk campus again, but to celebrate the marks they left behind. 

Treat 2015 Muster with reverence, but approach it with an eye for the joyous. Attend the Camaraderie Barbecue with friends and trade Good Bull stories with a member of the Class of 1965. Say “Howdy” to a campus visitor and strike a conversation. Visit the Muster Reflections Display and see how beautiful a life can be when lived fully. 

It is easy to lump Muster and Silver Taps together as two traditions with the same emphasis, but on different scales. Both remember the fallen and both are solemn. But Muster is different. Silver Taps is a time to honor and to grieve; Muster is a time to reflect and to remember. It is a reminder that we are all members of the Aggie family — for Muster, they are “here.” 

Stand for the fallen, but remember what they stood for. A loved one lost is tragic, but as the 2015 Muster quote reads, “Greater than sadness is the celebration of what they have meant to us and why we answer ‘here.’”