I just finished reading an article in the magazine A&M sends to former students, written by the president of Texas A&m, Robert Gates. It made me realize all the more what a great school A&M is, for so many different reasons.

Just to name one: At the end of the article, Mr. Gates recounted how he was asked to be the chief intelligence officer for the United States. You can imagine the importance of this job at this time in our history, and he did not want to take the job, but out of duty he said that he would do it to help our country be more secure. Everything was ready for him to leave A&M and take this position, but as he walked around the campus and saw all the different Aggies who had dedicated themselves to their school so heroically, he realized that his place was right here, and he called Washington the next day and told them he couldn’t take the job after all!

At A&M, you can be a Christian without feeling like your a weirdo. You can be patriotic without being ostracized. You can be friendly without having people look sideways at you. It’s a place where good people can be good.

It is not perfect, nor even close to it. There are evil things that people do there just like at other colleges. There are professors who are liberal academians. It is an institution made up of humans, and so has all the flaws that we do. But, it is also a bastion of honor, courage, and integrity, where being virtuous is still admired.

I will post another article about A&M and Catholicism in a few days. Meanwhile, gig ‘em, Aggies!