Be Good. Be Orange.

Submitted by Samuel Schimke,

At first glance, the notion of “being orange” may sound confusing to a random person. What does this mean? Does this mean acquiring an awfully overdone spray tan? While that may be the meaning for some, the concept of being orange is different to the people who make up the population at Oregon State University. At OSU, being orange means being a part of a unique community. Being a college population, members of the orange community share common traits, virtues, and goals that are not common among other more generic communities. The citizens of the OSU population are encouraged by their community to carry out these actions and values. How we the citizens carry out these conditions reflects the ethical and moral standing of the orange community as a whole. In order to engage these qualities in an active and positive way, there are a few skills and values that must be upheld by each member here at OSU, such as knowledge, responsibility, and moral goodness.

First off, in order to portray the values that OSU upholds, we must be equipped with the knowledge involved with these values. Well what does this really mean? Well simply put, it relates to the understanding of any type of subject matter related such as facts, description, and ethical concepts. The knowledge of subject matter is most easily learned through being taught, but most importantly experiencing the concepts first hand. In order to uphold the virtues portrayed by the orange community, it is of great importance to have the knowledge and experience necessary so that we do not act irrationally on the matter.

When we have attained adequate knowledge of the necessary concepts, we next have the option to act on them with responsibility. In a general sense, responsibility can be described as an obligation toward someone or something, as well as a degree of accountability of your action/inaction. By being orange, we naturally become responsible for upholding such ethical traits that are upheld by the college as a whole. However each individual portrays themselves within the orange community directly reflects the values and virtues that represent OSU. We have a responsibility to not act in a way that will reflect the orange community in a negative manner.

Lastly, we must interpret the meaning of being “good” coming from a moral standpoint. We all have a mental picture in our heads of what a good person looks like. But what does it really mean? It turns out that it is not so easily defined but is rather subjective, depending on ones situational circumstances or personal perspective. The OSU community shares commonalities on what is good versus what isn’t, and these values may or may not be shared by outsiders as well. These commonalities shared by the orange community as a whole are what make up our moral fabric.

Now that there is a solid foundation laid out for understanding what it means to be orange, the only thing left is to actually define what it means to be orange. The interesting thing about this concept is that there is no definite definition. What it means to be orange is a subjective concept, and depends on the opinion and perspective of the person describing it. There are a few important virtues and values that really stand out to me when I think of what it means to be orange, and these are what I would like to share with you, in no particular order.

In the community as a whole, we as orange people share the common trait of honesty. Being a college community, this virtue is especially important as it relates to academic honesty. The policies implemented into our academic curriculum uphold the value in being a graduate of this university. This ensures that we all are responsible for our own coursework that we complete, which upholds more value as a citizen of a different community after leaving this one. On another note, we are honest not only in our academic endeavors, but to each other as well. For example, just the other day I had been eating at one of the restaurants on campus when I accidentally left an expensive jacket of mine alone at a table upon leaving. It wasn’t until hours later that I realized I had left it there. While anyone could have easily came up and scored a nice, free jacket, I was delighted to find that someone had turned the jacket in to the restaurant, enabling me to reunite with it. This strikes me as a unique trait of the orange community as I may have never seen my jacket again if it had been in some other community.

As an individual citizen of the OSU community, we share a common trait that is independence. Now this sounds slightly contradicting at first. The definition of independence is built upon the concept of self-reliance, as well as making our own choices without the influence of others. How are we supposed to be influenced by our community if we are independent? The answer lies somewhere in the middle. While it’s true that we must take some influence from the college’s values, it is equally true that we must create new values and ideals for the community through our own independence. It is through the independence of all the students and faculty where new and innovative ideas and creations arise from within, and it’s these ideas that continue to shape and re-shape our moral persona.

I don’t think that the orange community would be as widely recognized and revered as it is today if it weren’t for the compassion that we show towards others. Many of the clubs within the university reflect this virtue, such as the Global Medical Brigades club, Public Health Brigades Club, and many more. The work done by these organizations within OSU display our compassion not only to the members within our community, but compassion towards foreign civilizations across the entire world that are in need of our help. To me, I feel that any able bodied community such as our university has a moral obligation to give compassion and aid to others who are in need where it is possible. The organizations within OSU that work to give aid to these less fortunate groups of people shows me that we are doing our part in helping the betterment of the world on a global scale rather than just within a confined area. People all across the world know the name of our university and associate us with the compassion and help we have given, and I feel it is an important responsibility for us to continue this work.

One thing everyone loves about being orange is the enthusiasm across campus about being engaged within it. Anywhere you go on campus, there are signs, banners, and statues celebrating what it is to be a Beaver. For example, the “what’s your orange moment?” banners across campus. As well as this, the enthusiasm shown and spread through the sporting events such as football and basketball. Everyone loves to gear up in their orange gear and get hyped about OSU spirit. I believe these propagandistic aspects of our campus are imperative to our ethical and moral fabric as a whole. These banners and events make us closer together, it gives us a way to bond with one another. From this we form a sense of unity, a real sense of community. Common ground is found by everyone within these activities, helping to bring us from a group of strangers to a functioning and collaborating group as a whole.

Above all else, what do I love the most about being orange? Being a member of this special community brings on motivation for the pursuing of excellence and the pride in hard work. As we all know, it is often extremely difficult to find motivation within yourself to get out of bed every day with the intention of working diligently to better yourself and achieve greatness, in whatever aspect of life you may choose. The end rewards of consistent hard work, such as financial success and stability, are dreamed of by just about anyone, but actually getting there isn’t always so easy. In the orange community, we are constantly surrounded by literally thousands of others who are working constantly to achieve the same goals as yourself. This plays a role as a major motivational factor when it comes to actually pursuing that excellence. If it weren’t for the help and support of the faculty members, as well as the friendly competition among my peers, there is no way I could have gotten this far into my academic career. I’ve heard a quote been said before, “If you are the smartest person in the room, you are in the wrong room.” – Unknown. I like this quote because I think it highlights the notion of never being content with your current career/educational status. The constant striving for more knowledge, more excellence, is what allows each and every one of us to achieve things greater than we ever could have imagined. Being a member of such a large university means that you will almost certainly never be the “smartest” person in the room. We are constantly challenged by others around us, but this is what makes us better at the things that we do.

These are the qualities that I personally believe to be unique and important when I consider what it means to be orange. These values and virtues bring knowledge, as well as a sense of responsibility, and moral goodness to our community. We as citizens of the orange community bring on these qualities to the university, and the university simultaneously brings them on to us. Constantly we are encouraged and challenged to be the best person we can be, whether it be morally or professionally. As I have previously highlighted, it takes a group of individuals and their ideas to make up a successful community. Instead of simply taking in and following my thoughts, I now want you to consider what you feel is important to being orange. What qualities and values are important to you? What traits do you impose on us as members of OSU? Remember, what you do and how you act directly reflects what it means to be orange, so get out there and be the best person you can be.