“I believe in the human touch, which cultivates sympathy with my fellow men and mutual helpfulness and brings happiness for all.”
The Auburn Family has always believed in community, in supporting our fellow man, and in mutual helpfulness. “Human touch” is the way we approach everyone we face, it’s a friendly way of treating people, and it’s something that can be felt anytime you encounter the Auburn Family.
At some point we’ve all heard the quote:
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou
When I think about this line of our creed, this quote always comes to mind. When you’re a part of the Auburn family, you know what it means to reach out in support of your fellow man. It doesn’t always matter what you say or what you do, but how you treat people. When you offer sympathy and helpfulness, you’re treating people well. When you treat people well, you’re offering that human touch that’s so meaningful to our community.
Reading part six of the creed, it’s easy to read “human touch” as “physical touch” but it means so much more than that. Especially now when physical touch is something that is more scarce than usual. In 2020, human touch became more important than ever as our physical touch was limited. The way we treated each other required more intentionality as the world around us changed.
When George Petrie wrote our Creed in 1943, he probably didn’t imagine a world where handshakes, hugs, high-fives, and physical touch would be put on hold for a while. He probably didn’t imagine not being able to gather in groups or attend events in full capacity. But even without these things, we watched as the Auburn Family lived this line of the creed. Through distance and quarantine, we saw people maintain sympathy and helpfulness. From the support of our frontline workers to students connecting with one another through Zoom, human touch was something that helped us through these times. We saw professors helping care for students in new ways. We witnessed first-hand the Auburn Family continue to show sympathy and helpfulness to their fellow man. We know that we can accomplish more together than we can apart, and we know that we are happier together.
Here’s to continuing to offer the human touch to our fellow man, however that looks in 2021 and beyond.
