When we look at Homecoming at the college level you probably think there’s a long list of qualifications or needing to live up to a certain level of status to appease other people.
Let me be the first to tell you that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Never in my life would I think that I would be nominated for Homecoming court after only being at a university for a little over a year after transferring into Millikin my junior year.
Let me be the one to tell you that no matter how high and mighty or untouchable you think everyone on court is. We’re just another group of people with our own form of flaws and insecurities.
Over the course of Homecoming week I ate three meals by myself in the cafe. Not because I didn’t want to sit with anyone but at the time no one wanted to sit with me. This didn’t hurt my feelings, but I definitely stuck out like a sore thumb with a sash that was blaring the words “Homecoming royalty” while sitting amongst an empty table while being able to hear the chorus of consultation happening around me.
At no point was I hurt but I found myself pondering the idea that I was doing something wrong. The reason why I had felt as if I had done something wrong was because I would consistently wander campus just for different groups of people regardless of whether I had known well or only from a few interactions would tell me that they would vote for me, and how I had a great chance at winning. But then I would consistently find myself enjoying a lukewarm hamburger, with some over seasoned fries by myself in the cafe later that afternoon wondering if I was missing something.
When I started taking a closer look at the other people on Homecoming court I started to see a form of a lapse in character. A bit of surface level interaction disguised as a form of long term fulfillment, as if it were a Trojan horse simply made to enter the hearts of potential voters just to pour out their selfish intent.
Much like a stereotypical politician, some of the candidates supplied candy, Baked goods, as well as a few false promises to hopefully draw in unlikely votes, probably seeing them as nothing more than moths blindly being drawn to the flame. Even though ultimately I believe that they were making a shallow attempt to become the people that they would have wanted to look up to in their previous years of feeling unheard. Attempting to write the wrongs to their predecessors, only to eventually be called out for the foundation that some of them have built on nothing more than a hollow wish.
Even after all of those seemingly negative experiences I have still found a way to be grateful. Just because you put on a sash and have your face plastered around social media for a week does not change who you are, no matter how you present yourself. In reality, upon closer inspection it only magnifies the true intention and moral high ground that everyone sits on, inevitably revealing the flawed person behind the mask. With these experiences you get to know who our true friends are. The ones who will place a hand on your back and push you towards purpose and belonging. Instead of feeling the press of sharp cold steel into your insecurities, taking you hostage and hoping that you will eventually guide them towards theirs.