Be gentle, Ags, I just had this idea and there may be a lot wrong with it. But it seems worth considering and I thought I'd like to see how it flies here.
I think student bonfire is great and shouldn't be replaced, but I also know that without institutional support it will never be like old bonfire. The best of all possible things would be a tradition that would be as big and galvanizing as old bonfire was, but without all the risk/controversy. Something that everybody could get behind.
This is what I came up with (again, please, go easy on me): an olympic-sized torch at the memorial site, lit once a year, by the usual torches like bonfire was, at the traditional bonfire date/time. Before the lighting, though, muster for the 12. Maybe everyone answers "here" for each 12. (Never forget.) Then light the torch, then hold yell practice the way the fallen would have wanted.
The torch would stay lit until kickoff, symbolizing of course our burning desire to beat the hell out of tu, but also a reminder of the burning desire the fallen had as they worked on build. We must never forget.
This is not meant to replace student bonfire. I realize now important cut and build are to the Aggie experience, and I believe they should continue. But I think student bonfire by itself is somehow insufficient, incomplete. My idea just feels right to me somehow. But maybe it's because it's my idea. I'd like to know what others think.
I think student bonfire is great and shouldn't be replaced, but I also know that without institutional support it will never be like old bonfire. The best of all possible things would be a tradition that would be as big and galvanizing as old bonfire was, but without all the risk/controversy. Something that everybody could get behind.
This is what I came up with (again, please, go easy on me): an olympic-sized torch at the memorial site, lit once a year, by the usual torches like bonfire was, at the traditional bonfire date/time. Before the lighting, though, muster for the 12. Maybe everyone answers "here" for each 12. (Never forget.) Then light the torch, then hold yell practice the way the fallen would have wanted.
The torch would stay lit until kickoff, symbolizing of course our burning desire to beat the hell out of tu, but also a reminder of the burning desire the fallen had as they worked on build. We must never forget.
This is not meant to replace student bonfire. I realize now important cut and build are to the Aggie experience, and I believe they should continue. But I think student bonfire by itself is somehow insufficient, incomplete. My idea just feels right to me somehow. But maybe it's because it's my idea. I'd like to know what others think.
