15 minutes of "fame"

I never imagined I'd see my alma mater on CNN (okay, I didn't actually see CNN, I saw CNN's homepage, we don't get CNN). When you come from a Mennonite school that even some Mennonites don't know exists it's hard to imagine that it will one day be on national news networks everywhere. Not that I don't think it should be on national news networks. My love for Bluffton is probably the closest I will ever come to loving a place (although admittedly it is the people in the place, rather than the place itself that I really love). But yesterday it happened. A bus accident killing four students and two others caused a national media circus at our beloved little campus. I nearly cried when I saw students walking into Founders Hall and the president give the press conference in front of the familiar gray curtain. I felt profound sadness for the students, who I know from personal experience become like a very large, sometimes awkward family, as they deal with the loss of four students.
I felt sorry for the brand new president, who in his first year of presidency had to address the nation on television (something I'm sure has not happened in Bluffton's history up to this point). I was proud of him for sticking to his Anabaptist roots and not chewing out the reporters when they asked the same question six times. I'm not sure I could have done it.
I thought of the PR office, where I once held a work-study position. I remember the binder with "Crisis Management Plan" written in thick letters down the side. That binder was surely in use yesterday. One friend sarcastically remarked that the PR office was always trying to figure out how much news coverage Bluffton was getting (She tends toward humor and sarcasm in the face of tragedy).
But 15 minutes of fame is just that. By last evening some other story had taken top billing on CNN and today it's probably gone. And perhaps folks at Bluffton are relieved. After all, we are Mennonite, with "the quiet in the land" in our genetic makeup. We were fed humility and humbleness with breakfast. And we want to be remembered for our faithfulness. We were not made to be famous, even if just for 15 minutes.