I never understood people who were constantly negative about their life until I myself went through this same mindset. There is nothing more contagious than being a victim of your own life, and once it takes a hold of you it is extremely hard to get rid of. What does it mean to be a victim of life?

I call it the ‘poor me’ mentality.

There are two types of people in the world (Granted there are probably more, but for this rant, there are two). There is the person who takes what life gives them and uses it to become a better version of themselves. You will definitely know when you have found one of these people because they react in a very specific way. The other person is far more sinister. They see life events as a personal attack on what they stand for. For them, there is no escaping this unmistakable suffering that the universe has put on them. There certainly is nothing THEY can do to make it better.

After going through a rough patch with my passion of singing, I became very pessimistic about anything to do with it. Anything that happened to me dealing with this, or any aspect to be honest, I could just feel me metaphorically looking to the heavens asking, “Why? Why in the actual f**k, me?”

Since I’ve learned to get over this mindset, it has absolutely become my pet peeve in life. I can’t stand people who let their negative energy seep out into the open air and taint their surrounding environment. Of course, what many of those people need is someone that will listen and guide them to become a positive thinker, but there is a sad truth to this mindset.

The only person that can save them, is themselves. Until they realise this, they will continue to be a victim of their own life.

This isn’t to say that I’ll let a complaint slip here and there. EVERYONE has bad days, and everyone needs someone to listen to their problems, but you still have to snap out of it. the ability to take a short time to complain and then forget about it and make a difference in life is something to cherish. Never take that for granted, because it’s easy to lose it and say, ‘poor me’.

The Morningside Men and Women’s Cross Country teams look towards competing at Dakota State University’s meet on Saturday September 10th after a last minute meet cancellation.

The Mustangs were scheduled to run in Deborah, Iowa Saturday morning against some of the toughest and most diverse competition in the Midwest. During the week the meet was canceled due to impending thunderstorms and flood warnings in the area. Among the competition was Augustana, whose men’s team is ranked ninth in the NCAA III Midwestern region.

Under the direction of head coach David Nash, a Morningside Alumni and decorated track athlete, the team was directed to a meet of similar size in Madison, SD. Local collegiate teams such as Wayne State, Briar Cliff, Northwestern College, and Hastings College were all present. Hasting’s women’s team is ranked nationally ahead of the mustangs, a statistic that isn’t overlooked by Nash. Because of this, Nash believes the team is making a great last minute switch to Madison.

“Our reputation of nationally ranked teams and the integrity of what we brought has been pretty good,” Nash spoke to the men’s team as part of a pre-meet speech. “I want [our team] to be a hurricane, we have to keep this reputation going.”

Quinn Groff, a senior runner for the team, had a wealth of motivation for this meet after being able to witness his older sibling compete on this same course years before. “This meet has different competition that we don’t normally face. We are getting another opportunity to prove ourselves as a team,” says Groff adding, “Northern State is tough competition for the women, so it’s about to go down.”

Coach Nash was not only enthusiastic about the change of location for Saturday, but for how his runners have been performing lately. During the pre-meet talk he gave to the men’s team, he voiced his excitement for individual runners. “Alec [DeVries] has been one of the fastest cross country runners in Morningside history. Sean [Skillern] has transformed himself. We almost lost [Jason Kenny] to Northwestern but there’s a reason he is here,” Nash articulates with a grin spread across his face. The team joined in with laughter as they acknowledged Kenny’s crucial part on the team. “He is figuring things out,” Nash exclaims.

Morningside’s Cross Country teams are headed into this meet after a 6^th place (men’s) and 5^th place (women’s) finish last Friday in Sioux Falls at the Augustana Twilight meet. Out of the Great Plains Athletic Conference, Northwestern men finished 5^th and Dordt women finished 4^th at this same meet.

A filing cabinet fell in the Residence Life office on Tuesday while one Morningside Student was attempting to file papers.

Diane Nguyen, a senior at Morningside College, was working a usual Tuesday afternoon shift in The Residence Life office. Unaware that the school had not bolted the cabinet down to the ground, she pulled open the top two drawers causing gravity to pull the cabinet forward. Unfortunately for Nguyen, this was right where she was standing.

Nguyen described the scene in detail adding how the situation unfolded after the initial fall. “I put it back in place, and a few people stuck their heads out of their offices. They asked if i was alright,” describes Nguyen. These people included Sheri Hineman, Sam Clary, and Jordan Heim, all of which are veteran staff members in the particular office.

According to her, this time of year usually brings a high amount of virtual and physical traffic into the office as many new and returning students come with questions dealing with on campus housing.

Unfortunately for Nguyen, no one was present to witness the event, but as she describes, it was probably for the best. “I screamed the F- Word and got bruises on my chest,” Nguyen admits. Since this occurred near the end of her shift, Nguyen stuck it out until the timecard could be punched, and then went home. Regardless, Nguyen did one thing right. She didn’t stop going until the day was complete.