We stood there on March 2, the wind blowing fiercely, each body shaking from the cold weather, hair blowing in all directions.
TAPS played in the background, the 24 notes each sending a powerful movement of emotion through your spine; it was an experience I will never forget.
When the assignment was first passed out to cover the march to Sam Houston’s grave, I was a bit skeptical. I am not a huge fan of basic stories, but I found this one particularly interesting.
There are a few things about Sam Houston that I know nothing about, including the names of the buildings, and Sam Houston himself.
The meeting began at 10:15 a.m. in front of Austin Hall, where Old Main use to stand. Immediately the people began to gather. Guys in colonial outfits, with no shoes and eye patches, walked around attending the walk.
When we waited I saw things that made me proud–orange hoodies, sweatshirts, and jackets. I saw Dean Yarabeck, Provost Payne and teachers forcing students to be there.
I wondered if people like Sam Houston would gather for a walk a great man’s life, and how he would do it differently.
We walked down the stairs passing the oldest building on campus–Austin hall. We walked past the grave of Tripod, a three-legged dog, who captured the heart of this campus in the 1950’s. These things passed through my mind, knowing that I was participating in a tradition that started in the 1800’s.
“This is my seventh year in a row of coming to this,” said Dean Yarabeck. “I like taking part in something that has been going on for a hundred years.”
Maybe that is why I was here. I couldn’t help but think about our generation and what we were leaving behind, traditions like the Kat Krazies, who when any of us look back we can say,
“I remember when they first started.”
When we arrived at the grave site, we were compounded into a large group. There were close to 150 of us there, all there to talk and remember the first president of Texas.
There was an assortment of people, and our group grew to 200 people, Among us were the Sons of the Republic of Texas, the Daughters of the Republic of Texas and an Indian Chief.
Ryan Bridges took the stage and talked about whySam Houston students attended. He said, “I think it’s fitting such a great university, is named after a great man.”
After the short ceremony ended, we all left to go back to our normal day, but it made me think about a lot of things. It made me think about Sam Houston, about our University and most of all it made me think about who I was and could I measure up to a man so great.
But what I thought about most, was Andrew Jackson, and those memorable words.
“The World will take care of Houston’s Fame”