In response to "Rally All of Notre Dame" (Sept. 19) I could not agree more with Ms. Wargel and Mr. Gaffney about the necessity to change the lyrics of the Notre Dame Victory March in order to keep with the Catholic values and mission of this University. However, I would take the modifications several steps further.
In one of the verses, for example, it states "we will fight in every game." The act of fighting is contrary to Catholic values of peace and love of neighbor. What is more, to say that "Old Notre Dame will win over all" denotes an oppressive attitude toward athletes and students at other universities, who are all still children of God.
In fact, as a Catholic university, should our victory march even be centered on a football game? Shouldn't it instead be a Salvation March, the true victory in life? And speaking of football, a violent game by nature, this seems contrary to the values of peace and love previously mentioned. Instead, I believe we should show greater support for more peaceful sports such as badminton and kite flying.
For all you slow readers out there, keep the Victory March as is. After all, it is our sons — football players — marching on to victory, and last time I checked, the roster is just a bit male-oriented. Not everything needs to be politically correct, not every word needs to be approved by every special interest and tree-hugging group. Appreciate and respect tradition, plain and simple.
Instead of complaining about song lyrics, how about we start focusing on what it takes to have a 10-2 season with a bowl win on top of that?
Godspeed,
Brett Ubl
sophomore
Fisher Hall
Sept. 20
