If you are in almost any club at Brandeis, you have probably organized, or at least helped with organizing an event. So most people are aware of how much work goes into planning and executing one. However, I feel like most people forget about that when attending others’ events. I’m sure that most people would agree that there is nothing more disheartening than other people trashing an event that you put work into.
Everyone has high expectations, and oftentimes those expectations are not met. And then everyone has opinions to voice, which are usually not positive (as the opinions editor, I know a few things about opinions). Which means I also understand that most people don’t think about the impact of their opinion. I’m also very guilty of letting my tongue go loose, because just like everyone else, I’ve been to events on this campus that were disappointing.
I’m a part of the Campus Activities Board (CAB), so I do my fair share of organizing. I also listen to my fair share of trash about the events I organized. Don’t get me wrong, constructive criticism is useful and welcome, but unfortunately, that is almost never what you get. I understand that everyone has their own opinion and has the right to express it, I just hope that people are more considerate about where and when they express them.
What I still cannot let go of is all the crap I heard about the Library Party at the party itself. I realize that it was not perfect, there was room for improvement: but there always is. One thing I wish more people kept in mind while criticizing something is that there are a lot of things that you probably don’t know about. Why was there no candy? Because it is the Library’s policy to keep the carpets clean. Why was it so bright? Because of fire-safety regulations, so in the case of fire, people will see where they are going. Why Domino’s Pizza? Because it is the only pizza place that is open at midnight and will deliver. I cannot say that it is my favorite, but you make the best of the circumstances you are in. I can keep going with this list until tomorrow, but I’ll spare you all the details.
Most people I heard weren’t aware that I was the person behind the event. But that brought me to another thought: you never know who is listening. I’m sure that if they did, they wouldn’t have said those things in front of me. I really wish people would think about the situation a little more before they make their final judgements. Of course I tried not to take the comments personally, but sometimes that is really hard to do. But no one tries to make a bad event, sometimes things beyond anyone’s control get in the way. Sometimes people are just too busy to put in the work they wanted to. We are all college students who have so many other things to do.
In general, I believe that as a community we can be better at supporting one another’s events. I covered many very cool events for the news section of The Hoot which had very few people attending, which is sad because most of those events were very interesting, and obviously had a lot of work put into them. Of course, not all events are for everyone, but if you see something that might be of interest to you, go. Support the people organizing it, have fun with your friends. And just in general be more considerate of those around it. It’ll improve our community.
