If you’ve been on the JMU campus at all, you will have heard “Dukes Hold Doors.” A simple phrase that encapsulates how the inclusion of all students at JMU starts with something small. It’s shouted by Tim Miller and preached at every pep rally or gathering. The small task of holding the door open for the people around you is one of the easiest ways to put goodness into your community, free of charge. It’s not just a slogan. It’s a symbol of JMU — of how we look out for and care for each other, in even the smallest of ways. These little gestures can make this place feel like home.
As a freshman last year, you better believe I held the door for every person I could. It seemed like such a good way to make someone else’s life a little bit easier and just help out. I watched all the other freshmen do it, smiles on their faces, and it felt like community. The little jog that people will do sometimes to catch the door from you with a relieved “Thank you!” made this large campus feel so much smaller. As freshmen, feeling connected to a new place and new people is so important and this tradition helped me to find my footing.
But this year, as a sophomore, I’ve been noticing more and more people letting the door fall shut. People are too wrapped up in their own bubbles to do this simple act of goodness, and so I’ve felt the generosity on campus shrink and dwindle. We get busier, our schedules more cramped, and we forget about this tradition and the excitement that surrounds welcoming new people.
And I’ve watched this translate into other aspects of campus life. People bumping into each other and not saying “Oh, excuse me!” or not giving the bus drivers a shouted thanks as you get off. These social missteps are so frustrating, for me and many others. At a school where “Dukes Hold Doors” is such a common phrase, I’m missing the small everyday kindness we show each other. We hurry from class to class, headphones on max volume, lightyears away from the people around us, and we don’t notice when we let the door fall shut behind us.
People rush by without a second thought, minds caught up in exams, school, or money. We forget that we are not the only people existing. It is so easy to be consumed by your own world. We are at the center of our minds and everyone else is a side character, which is completely normal. Between classes, jobs, and the ever-growing to-do list, it is so easy to just focus on surviving through the day. We don’t stop caring, but we simply stop noticing.
However, when we lock ourselves into the egocentric cage, we forget that humans are a collective. We, as humans, are a collective being that thrives on social interaction. There is a requirement to form a community and feel belonging to a group of people. When we connect, we can remind each other that we aren’t alone. By doing these small acts of kindness, we can give that feeling to others. Holding the door for someone is something that is so small, but it can stick with a person and make them feel like they have a place here. I invite you to not only hold the door, but also to leave the door open. Welcome as many people in as you can and let the kindness from one action ripple into your life.
Kindness makes an impact on people. It can translate into a big effect on people’s lives and put smiles on faces. Whenever someone goes out of their way to hold the door a little longer than socially necessary for me, it lingers in my mind. I think about their thoughtful gesture and I hold the door a little longer next time. Maybe it starts a chain reaction or maybe it doesn’t, but the kind action will stick around for that person and remind them that there are people who care.
“Dukes Hold Doors” is a tradition at this school that needs to be in place, but it also needs to go beyond that. Hold the door, say thank you more often, and tell people you love them. With the world getting to be a harder and more difficult place, creating space to be kind to each other is so vital. The world is cruel, but we can choose not to be. We can remind each other that we’re seen, that someone cares enough in this busy stressful world enough to hold the door.
So hold more doors. Linger around to hold it an extra second. And then, leave the door open and welcome others — let that effect ripple through campus and our lives.