Emulate the buffalo and Be Well
We launch this campaign to help our college family be well and stay well
“How are you?”
Normally, that rote inquiry precedes a ready response: “I’m well.”
Today, however, we grapple with the global pandemic, record unemployment, political polarization and historic levels of protest of our citizens’ long history of unequal (and lethal) treatment under the law on the basis of race.
So an exchange of conversational pleasantries bears the weight of the moment. Were we to reply honestly, our response would often be something other than “well.”
The college hopes to help. Today, we launch a campaign called “twelve months of wellness,” part of our Be Well initiative for students and employees. We are doing so because it is critical to maintain—and improve—individual wellness.
Buffaloes, and those who protect them, signify the determination to survive and to rebound in times of crushing adversity"
Be Well, summarized at this link, aims to help our college family
- understand and implement self-care strategies and resources to improve wellness, and
- learn of faculty research related to health and wellbeing.
We launch this campaign to help our college family be well and stay well.
Honoring the animals who once epitomized the Great Plains, members of the Ҵýƽ community call themselves Buffaloes. That is fitting. Buffaloes are survivors, despite the fact that men hunted them nearly to extinction.
Buffaloes can symbolize hope, because the buffalo endures, even in the rapidly changing world to which it must constantly adapt. Buffaloes, and those who protect them, signify the determination to survive and to rebound in times of crushing adversity. And there’s a ripple effect. When buffaloes thrive, so does their habitat.
In an observation well suited to our day, the late Wilma Mankiller, the first woman to be elected chief of the Cherokee Nation, noted that buffalo face adversity head on:
“Cows run away from the storm, while the buffalo charges toward it—and gets through it quicker. Whenever I’m confronted with a tough challenge, I do not prolong the torment, I become the buffalo.”
As Buffs, let’s meet that challenge together.
James W.C. White is interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
