To the BSUDM 2017 President

It has been over 60 hours since Ball State University Dance Marathon, also known as the Miracle in Muncie, exceeded all expectations by revealing a total of $610,086.23 fundraising over the past year.

In the past 60 hours, I have talked to hundreds of people and continually receive the same question - how much did you cry?

And the answer seems to surprise everyone - I never cried.

In the past 60 hours, I have been struggling to decipher what emotions I should be having.  After dedicating four years of my life to a single organization, I am sad to accept that I have little else to give at the undergraduate level.  After a year of being president and moving BSUDM to new levels of organization, efficiency, and innovation, I am sad to accept that my time will end in less than 8 hours.

Yet after 60 hours, I could not be more happy with everything the Miracle in Muncie accomplished this year.  As president, I had the incredible honor of receiving compliments I never deserved.  To me, there was no better feeling than receiving a compliment and then being able to brag on whoever the compliment was supposed to be directed towards.  As president, I have a large say in the vision of BSUDM 2016, but I am nothing but one person without the support of my Vice Presidents, Directors, Committee Members, Dancers, and Riley Families.

So with less than eight hours left of my presidency, rather than reflect back on the past four years and everything that I have learned - a reflection that will only help myself - I would rather offer some advice to the BSUDM 2017 President on things that I did well, things I wish I had done better at, and things that I sucked at.  I hope that you will take my advice none-the-less.

This is my open thank you letter to you.
---

Dear BSUDM 2017 President,

In less than 8 hours, your life will change.

You are about to embark on potentially the most unique ride of your life - enjoy it.  The next year of your life will be the busiest to date and you will not completely understand how you are so busy, but you will know that you are - so enjoy it.  You will do a lot of things, but never be able to articulate what you actually have done - but enjoy it.

You will learn to treat anyone and everyone with complete respect, because you do not know their connection to Dance Marathon or Riley Hospital.  You will be chained to a pedestal that you cannot get off and that you will not always want to be on.  You will understand the difficulties of being the president of one of the largest student organizations on campus and not ever meeting half of your members.

You will have people come up to you and ask you for help and be expected to say yes without reservation.  You will constantly juggle a barrage of projects and tasks, yet never be able to answer the question, "What does the president actually do?"

You will be the calm face in a sea of chaos.  You will help others without reservation.  You will make hard decisions with repercussions.  You will hold votes when you do not agree with the discussion.  You will bite your tongue when someone questions you.  With every decision that you make, you will be put on a pedestal to be glorified by some, yet be put on a cross to die by others.

But enjoy it.

I am not telling you these things to scare you.  I am not making this an open letter to receive pity.  I am doing this, because I want to say thank you.

The president's job is a tricky one, and it is even trickier to explain to someone exactly what you do.  You give credit where credit is due - and sometimes give credit when it's not due.  You help without reservation.  You simultaneously make someone's dream when you pick them for the executive council while killing the dreams of countless others.

You will be tested every day on whether or not you were meant to be in this position - trust me, you are.  You will question whether or not you are doing a good job almost every day - trust me, you are.  You will never actually know what's going on with 95 percent of the directors - trust me, it's normal.

In the end, you will learn more about yourself in this year than you can possibly imagine.  You will be put into situations where you are expected to fail, but you will find a way to succeed.  You will constantly feel alone at a crowded meeting.  You will take the blame if anything goes wrong and receive none of the praise when something goes right.

So for this and many more things, I would like to say thank you.

Thank you for trusting the team when we say that you are ready for this challenge.

Thank you for being willing to embark on the strangest roller coaster of emotions you will ever feel.

Thank you for your willingness to feel anger, sadness, and insurmountable joy all at the same time.

Thank you continuing the legacy set forth by BSUDM members before you.

Thank you for choosing to stand for something bigger than yourself.

Thank you for knowing that when you stand on stage at BSUDM 2017, that you are not alone.

Thank you for carrying on the vision of BSUDM.

Thank you for seeing where we are, but believing in who we can become.

Thank you for never letting a monetary goal overshadow our Riley families.

Thank you for making the tough decisions when no one else wants to.

Thank you for saying the difficult remarks when no one else wants to.

Thank you for your willingness to have a difficult conversation when one is needed.

Thank you for being quick to praise and slow to punish.

Thank you for being quick to accept and slow to negate.

Thank you for the late nights and early mornings.

Thank you for skipping your lunch break to help someone else.

Thank you for fighting for the kids.

Thank you for fighting for kids like Katie.

Thank you for never letting the legacy of a child die.

Thank you for accepting new families without forgetting about the old ones.

Thank you for moving forward without forgetting where you come from.

Thank you for trusting me.

This next year of your life is going to change you forever.


Enjoy it.

Thank you,
Max Browning

P.S.  Never forget that I love you and that I am extremely proud of you.

To the New Readers

Dear New Reader,

There are 26 letters in the English alphabet.  These letters can be combined in hundreds of thousands of unique orders to create "words."  Sometimes, these words can be combined in such a way that a "sentence" is formed.

These sentences, once combined, possess the ability to spark emotion and engage readers (such as yourself).  I arrange these 26 letters to create new letters.  These open letters serve a source of insight,  an inspiration for change, or a reminder of reassurance.

Let my combination of letters meet you where you are.


Keep on shining,
Max Browning