Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart 14

I'm so thankful that I chose to attend college at Auburn University!  I honestly never imagined when I started looking at colleges, I would fall in love with a university as much as I love Auburn. 

From the moment I stepped onto Auburn's campus, I knew this is where I would spend the next four five years of my early adulthood.  The campus, of course, is beautiful, but the spirit of Auburn is what drew me in!  Auburn doesn't just have loyal fans, we have a loyal family, and it runs much deeper than football games on Saturdays in the fall.  In comes in supporting others in the time of need, even if you don't know them, but you know they are part of the Auburn family.  It comes in helping your most hated rival in a time of destruction, because that is the right thing to do.  It comes in taking pride not just in your teams, but in your university as a whole, and always wanting it to grow and flourish. 

While at Auburn, I found the perfect sorority for me, the perfect friends for me, the perfect major(s) for me and the perfect life for me!  I truly enjoyed my college experience and honestly wouldn't change one thing about those years.  Each year brought on new friends, new experiences and new challenges, each one helping me to get to this point in my life. 

Going away to college helped me to realize there is more to life than the little bubble I had happily grown up in.  I realized there are different kinds of people who had different kinds of opinions, and that was ok.  Being on my own, without the comfort of people I had known my entire life, made me step out of my box and really find out who I was as an individual.  I learned responsibility and self-sufficiency, I learned about who I wanted to be.  I also learned that in the absence of family, you create and surround yourself with a new family, ones who aren't related to you by blood.  I am blessed that I was able to find those people at Auburn, women and men who are still in my life, and who I hope will always be in my life. 

Auburn University has given me so much and I am forever proud to bleed orange and blue and be an Auburn Tiger. 

I believe that this is a practical world and that I can count only on what I earn.

Therefore, I believe in work, hard work.

I believe in education, which gives me the knowledge to work wisely

and trains my mind and my hands to work skillfully.

I believe in honesty and truthfulness,

without which I cannot win the respect and confidence of my fellow men.

I believe in a sound mind, in a sound body and a spirit that is not afraid,

and in clean sports that develop these qualities.

I believe in obedience to law because it protects the rights of all.

I believe in the human touch,

which cultivates sympathy with my fellow men and mutual helpfulness and brings happiness for all.

I believe in my Country, because it is a land of freedom and because it is my own home, and that I can best serve that country by "doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with my God."

And because Auburn men and women believe in these things, 

I BELIEVE IN AUBURN AND LOVE IT!
-George Petrie (1945)