Note from the editor

Who are we? This question has plagued humanity for as long as humanity has been capable of asking it. It is a question that we strive to answer individually through competition with peers, through mind-numbingly circuitous self-analysis, through joining collectives to adopt their identity, through achieving notable accomplishments, through many other, subtler ways. As a species, we develop philosophies to explain how our race should or does act, and we research other sciences which explain ourselves relative to our surroundings. Yet, for all the effort invested, we only end up with a flavor-of-the-decade philosophy or an ulcer or being dragged through a scandal with the rest of the "right" group, while the question remains unanswered. Perhaps this is because humanity is simply too complex to define; surely, after our most brilliant minds have failed for millennia, we can consider this. So often, we perceive definition as saying what something is and here, we have failed, for what is man? A skeleton, a dream, an oddity, a prayer—perhaps we should settle for accepting what something isn’t. To do this, of course, requires perceiving man in relationship to man, to nature, to universe, to God. It is when we see ourselves stand as the fallen pinnacle of creation, extend a hand to our fallen brother, walk beside our crippled sister, bow in humble service under the Divine, that we understand what it truly is to be human.
I would like to draw specific attention to the Musical Offering featured in a brief ad sponsored by Joshua Wilson. This promises to be one of the most exciting things to hit Concordia’s music scene this year, and I encourage all to check it out.