As the flood of students passed by me to rush onto the field after the Maryland victory over Miami on Saturday, I could not help but to shake my head. Part of me wanted to join the masses, as it seemed everyone else was doing it, why not join in? It looked thrilling to run onto the field and celebrate with the team, but ultimately I decided against it, saving the sacred event of rushing the field for a more important victory worthy of the act. As college students we often are seen as having trouble grasping the tradeoff between the pleasures of right now to the deferred gratification of tomorrow.
I made a decision a long time ago and continue daily to choose abstinence from sex until my wedding night. Often I am questioned by fellow students about how or why I would possibly make myself wait so long for the pleasures sex can provide. My response is that sex is an amazing thing, perhaps the greatest gift we have been given as humans and, along with that, sex is a powerful act. The intimacy and love of sexual relations inside the bonds of marriage or between lovers are often sacrificed for the lust and passion of the random hookup.
I look forward to my future wedding night when my wife and I will consummate what I hope will be the beginning of a lifelong relationship between kindred souls. It will truly be a special and meaningful act as we will have saved the intimacy of sex for each other. True, it is hard to wait, but on that night it will be worth it. For those who have premarital sex, their honeymoon will be a special vacation but will not have the significance it would have had if they had waited.
You are probably asking, what does this have to do with football? Perhaps as the students ran onto the field in droves, some in the stands overcome with excitement failed to think through the consequences of their behavior. Rushing the field against Florida State was understandable although not prudent – perhaps a steady girlfriend or boyfriend of a year whom you love but are not sure is the one you want to spend the rest of your life with. There is some level of commitment and love, but perhaps waiting a bit longer would have offered a more meaningful experience.
However, storming the field after the Miami game was more like a random one-night stand after a drunken party that cheapens the very act of sexual intercourse. Now if we go on to beat Boston College and clinch the Atlantic Division title with a victory over Wake Forest the once cherished tradition of storming the field will feel routine and almost normal. Sure it will be exciting again but in the back of our minds we will remember the past two times and it will be an experience tainted.
Maybe the students were right in storming the field, after all it was fun and no one really got hurt, but maybe by doing so they cheapened the event for all future university students. It is often difficult to go against the grain of society because no one wants to miss out on the fun, everyone fears being left out and so they go with the flow of the crowd. Often we, as college students, talk of high idealism and changing the world, but as author Shane Claiborne wrote “the people who change the world have always been risk-takers who climb through windows while the rest of the world just walks in and out of doors.” So next time you face a decision between present pleasure or deferred gratification, take a moment to weigh the decision and know it is easy to get caught up in a moment of passion and excitement. Stacie Orrico said it well: “There’s gotta be more to life than chasing down every temporary high to satisfy me.” Think about it and save the actual and metaphorical storming of the field for a moment truly worthy of the occasion.
Andrew Gackenbach is a senior economics and Spanish major. He can be reached at andrewfroboy@gmail.com
