Post-THON!

Today's post will be a post-THON report!

Let me first just give a HUGE round of applause to everyone who was involved in THON the past weekend. As I stood up on the bleachers watching the event from above, it almost seemed unreal. As a freshman, it was breathtaking to experience my first THON, and I can't wait for the next couple of THONs to come! :]

Singing at THON was awesome (although it ended in a abrupt halt--more on that later).

I have to admit, at first, it was quite awkward. Here we were, standing in the middle of the hallway with crowds of people bustling around. Volunteers and visitors alike were running around busily, and honestly, I felt like we were in the way. But, we managed to find an empty space by the wall opposite to the registration table. There was a line of people patiently (some impatiently) waiting for their turn to be helped. We then began to sing our first song: Seasons of Love.

The beginning of the song starts out with just the sopranos. The crystal clear, high tones of the sopranos pierced the atmosphere, and heads immediately turned to our direction. While at first, a lot of people looked at us like we were crazy, after the first 30 seconds, many people proceeded to bob their heads or clap along. The first and last songs of a performance are always the most important, because they leave the first and last impression. Their was a specific reason why our president chose Seasons of Love as our first selection. If you read the lyrics, I think you'll understand why...

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes,
Five hundred twenty-five thousand moments so dear.
Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year?

In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights
In cups of coffee
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.

In five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure
A year in the life?

How about love? [x3] 

Measure in love
Seasons of love [x2]

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes!
Five hundred twenty-five thousand journeys to plan.

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes

How do you measure the life of a woman or a man?
 

In truths that she learned,
Or in times that he cried.
In bridges he burned,
Or the way that she died.

It's time now to sing out,
Tho' the story never ends
Let's celebrate
Remember a year in the life of friends
Remember the love!

Oh you got to got to
Remember the love!
You know that love is a gift from up above
Share love, give love spread love
Measure measure your life in love.

These lyrics are powerful lyrics. And they embody the ideals of THON. I've never watched Rent before, so I'm not sure in what context that these lyrics were created, but I do know that "remembering the love" is something that THON strives to do. As we sang, we watched the tired volunteers run around on a mere 3 or 4 hours of sleep. We watched devoted supporters walk in late at night to cheer on our dancers. We watched tired dancers march off to the bathroom with struggling smiles. It was great to be able to stand in front of lines and encourage the passersby to keep smiling and remembering the love. It was even better when we got encouraging smiles or words of support in return! One guy even started to sing along with us! :) 

And now, on to the sad part... After about an hour, we eventually had to stop because one of the THON workers approached us and told us we weren't allowed to sing unless we had received explicit permission from the THON committee to do so. It was odd, because it wasn't the first time RoF has gone THON hallway singing. But we understood his reasoning and stopped our performances. 

THON is now over, but the THON spirit is a year-round effort! I hope the Penn State community doesn't forget to "remember the love."