Last week, we voted on team captains. I had said even before the results came out that I won’t be disappointed if I’m not a captain this year. I will protect my team regardless of whether or not coach acknowledges it with captainhood.

After all, the office of a senior is a highly esteemed one around campus. To the freshmen, a senior is the master of this scary, highly-insulated new world. To the junior, a senior is about to pass into the next, much scarier world; they are soldiers headed off to war, and one salutes them with a draft card in the other hand.

On the team, being a senior means providing guidance. Even when one doesn’t have the superficial title of “captain,” it is one’s duty as an older student to look out for the new guys. And it is everyone’s duty to keep us moving in the same direction: forward. No matter how much pain we feel, no matter what abuse life rains upon our heads, we must always be moving forward. One doesn’t learn that at the concession of a vote. One learns that on the roads, running one’s heart out day after day.

Still, I am glad to be captain.