Salesian Hospitality — Susan Givens-Skeaton, Ph.D.
One of the core values of DeSales University is hospitality, as is captured in the quote below.
“Salesian hospitality seeks to accept others by honoring their human dignity and empowering them to be who they are and be that well.”
This quote has me reflecting on what hospitality means to me and the ways in which I have experienced hospitality in my own life.
I was born and raised in the Midwest, where being hospitable is a way of life. Where people say an audible hello to everyone they pass on the street and where it is not uncommon for two strangers to engage in a complete conversation in the middle of the condiments aisle at the grocery store. But for me, hospitality runs deeper than this. As a child, I witnessed hospitality on a daily basis.
Our parents raised Steve, Laura, and me in their Wayne Street home. This was the only home we kids knew, until we each left for college. Early in our lives, our parents opened our house to three foreign exchange students. Many of our friends found our house a safe place to land. The house on Wayne Street was always a home to us and it became a foster home to at least three of our friends, although it may have been more. I never remembered asking permission for a friend to come over, nor do I recall ever wondering if my parents would say no to a sleepover at our house.
Upon graduating from college, I moved from Omaha to Dallas, where people are known for their southern hospitality. While in Texas, I became good friends with a work colleague who was a transplant from New York City. Her Italian American parents opened their home to me and it was here that I enjoyed some of the most incredible Sunday family dinners.
When I decided to pursue my doctorate, I moved to Albany, New York. Although people from the Northeast have been stereotyped as being rude or unfriendly; that has not my experience. The day after moving to Pennsylvania we awoke to the reality that a huge rainstorm overnight had closed the freeways. We were trying to navigate our way to a Sam’s Club to buy a new mattress. The only directions we had required the use of the interstate. As this was prior to GPS being readily available in our mobile devices, my husband had pulled to the side of the road so we could consult our map. While we sat there with our U-Haul trailer in tow, complete strangers stopped to offer us directions. This certainly did not feel unhospitable. I once heard northeastern people referred to as “efficient” and I feel that is a more apropos description.
As I raise my own family, I place hospitality front and center. I likely won’t have a pot of coffee brewing when you arrive and I certainly don’t have a casserole in the freezer, but I will offer you my last beer and order us a pizza. I love it when my kids have friends over. I am always up for hosting sleepovers and I will never say no to last-minute play dates. Even if my house is a bit messy, people are always welcome.
One of the primary reasons I feel so at home at DeSales is the hospitality I feel when I am on campus. Creating a safe and inclusive space for all students in my classroom is a priority for me. Oh, and you are likely to find me sparking up a full-blown conversation with someone in the middle of the hallway, because apparently you can take the girl out of the Midwest, but you can’t take the Midwest out of the girl.
I encourage you to consider the ways in which you will be hospitable.