Excitement rages through the Gustavus campus. Friends reunite themselves with those whom they’ve been parted from for three whole months and can now be seen anywhere at any time. It seems nothing could go wrong for anyone. But this, the first week of class, is not so euphoric for all, dear Gusties. Our esteemed Gustie Greeters find that all they’ve lived to uphold for the past few weeks has fallen into a void.

With nothing to greet or advise, students fall into their own personal patterns. Days revolving around games in a cross-legged circle are forgotten as Greeters make efforts to recollect the routines they once had. But they lead different lives now. Running in a crazed circle with arms aloft, these former Greeters can be seen sometimes dazed and confused in a place that was once a home of comfort.

Dear Gusties, these Greeters may be in a state of denial and post-ecstatic-stress, but it’s not to be worried about. I can profess that I have many a Greeter friend and have experienced this process through my own omniscient narrator-like qualities. This stage of hopeless attempts at greeting first-years weeks into the semester (followed by efforts to greet upperclassmen or even the trees of our campus), will slowly dwindle.

So what can we do? As respectable students of this institution and members of this community, we must strive to bring equilibrium to the status quo of our fellow Greeter classmates. Practice your own greeting (in solitude, at first, until you feel ready) so that you may enter a mindset where your Greeter friends are dwelling. Then, bring that mindset to life as you approach, in the most upstanding of statures, with your greeting voiced to the heavens. You will witness the gleam in your Greeter friends’ eyes, and you yourself will understand: you will have brought peace to those who had lost theirs.

You can make a difference in a Greeter’s life, dear Gusties. It’s as easy as lending a hand to help a Greeter up after they’ve fallen from yelling and singing so loudly they’ve lost control of their feet. Whatever it is you do to help, remember that Gusties will shine tonight, Gusties will shine.