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| Easton Depp ('19) |
Yale Law School
attaches an additional requirement on top of the standard documents to apply
for Law School. They ask you to write 250 words on any topic. It can be an
argument or a reflection, a musing or a debate. I decided to write mine on the
importance of community and how I find community in a large city like
Louisville. While my hobby may not be for everyone, I would encourage everyone
to find a community to embrace friendship and companionship. C.S Lewis writes
of friendship,
"Friendship is unnecessary, like
philosophy, like art…it has no survival value; rather it is one of those things
which give value to survival."
(Four
Loves)
Putnam’s book
describes the decline of clubs and institutions that provide the environment
for companionship. With those declining, we must take it upon ourselves to
create our own places for friendship to thrive. Below is my 250 words for the
application that I submitted, where I make the case for such a thing.
_________________________________________________________________________
Joseph Putnam’s Bowling
Alone: The Collapse and Revival of
American Community describes the decline of social capital within American
communities. Both inward and outward facing institutions have declined in
prevalence. As a result, Americans feel less connected with their communities.
I value community strongly, so I have taken strides to remedy that myself. Each
week I participate in Dungeons and Dragons group. Regardless of the
connotations surrounding the game, this weekly activity has been a blessing for
me in developing a community. We meet and engage for three to four hours
without screens or distractions. In this
day and age, it can be hard to find an activity that creates devoted human
interaction. My experience is not an
anomaly either. Board games are skyrocketing in popularity. Dungeons and
Dragons is the most popular that it has ever been since its creation in the
1970s. Americans have suffocated from the lack of social communities and they
are finding that board games serve as a reliable avenue to remedy that
deprivation. Across the nation, board
game bars such as The Rook OTR in Cincinnati are appearing as devoted
communities of gamers coalesce. This is
a blessing; society suffers from a lack of concentrated human interaction.
People keep their phones on them constantly and can barely stand a
fifteen-minute break. If dungeoneering isn’t for you, try and find a way to
participate in this backlash against our distracted environment. Take some time
to interact with notifications dinging in the background.
Easton Depp, of Ft. Thomas, Ky., is a member of the McConnell Scholar Class of 2019. He studies political science, economics and history at the University of Louisville.