In my good liberal arts education I learned that
the whole is great than
the sum of its parts.

I learned that grain upon grain makes
the impossible heap.

I learned that one and one and fifty
can change the world,
but still can’t find the lyrics.

I learned that to better understand,
a good liberal arts education is needed.

Yet now, the simple bean counters
can’t see the impossible heap,
so they try to close down a college.

Now, politicians argue about taxes
remembering statistics about millions
while missing tragedy of a single child
going hungry.

Today, students at a small liberal arts college
are getting a real education
as they fight not for the grade or degree,
but for something that matters much more.

It’s not just a campus,
or tradition,
or a favorite professor.

It is for something much more important
in this twenty-first century,
something that too many
seem to be forgetting.

It is how we understand life
how we care for one another.
It is the value of a real
liberal arts education.