Gate of Change

In a night, everything can change.  That Idea become truly apparent when I woke up this morning to find four new inches of freshly fallen snow outside my window.  I know that it has been winter for a long time now, but it was still surprising to see the snow appear and change the familiar landscape once again. This change in scenery is reminiscent of our life changes when we came to college, which feels like forever ago.  The one location on campus that can symbolize this change is the Allen Street Gate.

The Allen Street Gate is a big cast iron fence.  You can find it on the edge of campus, along College Avenue and just below Old Main.  The fence is made up of many ornate designs crafted out of the same cast iron that the gate is made of.  On each side of the gate stands a large stone structure to support the gate and keep it in place.  From the Allen Street Gate you can look the whole way up the Pattee Mall to the library.  There are also paths going past the gate on either side, leading up onto campus.

With the gates location on the edge of campus, it marks one of the borders between the college world, and the real world.  Some people, when they first came to campus, walked past this gate, to start their new life as a college student.  This gate, even though it doesn't open, is the gateway to a whole new world for these students full of new opportunities, as well as many new challenges.  College life is a gateway to a whole new chapter in our lives, one that we feel like we started ages ago, even though it wasn't quite that long ago.  These gates also symbolize the change in our lives after we leave college.  One day we will all leave our college lives behind, and leave out these gates, or by some other path, to move onto our post-college lives. 

Along with the Allen Street Gate symbolizing the changes in our lives, they also symbolize the change in the season.  The night when I visited the gate was the night that it snowed very hard, and was also really cold.  It happened that I visited this gate of change the night that the campus completely changed and put on a new white coat.  The fresh coat of snow this morning was symbolic of the challenges that lay ahead whenever we have change, as well s the beauty that comes along with both change and challenges.

 The Allen Street Gate is one of the many gateways that we will pass through throughout our lives.  We will pass through gateways to changes in our lives, as well as to changes in the seasons.  With each of these changes, comes many more challenges but also beauty.  It is up to us to embrace the power of change, confront the challenges it poses, and show the beauty that we inherit from the change, just like Old Main did after our last snow storm.