Peer pressure. Alcohol. Drugs.  In college, young people are always encountering obstacles that separate them from who they are.

The answer, according to Pastor T.C. Brantley of the Restoration Springs Interdenominational Church, is for students to keep their individuality and their spiritualism with God, whether they belong to a religious affiliation or not.

For an example of what happens when you fail to do so, look no further than actor Charlie Sheen, he said.

“There is no one like you, so why must you try to be someone else? We are all individuals,” Brantley said in a talk to UMOJA Thursday at Fairfield.

The same advice might help troubled celebrities like Charlie Sheen, too, he said.  Spirituality doesn’t always have to be with God.

“Look at Charlie Sheen, he lost his spirituality in the form of marriage by having an affair – now his life went downhill,” said Brantley. He told students that their spirituality gives those borders that tell them what they should and should not do.

For Charlie Sheen, his spirituality was his marriage.  When he had an affair that he wasn’t supposed to have, he lost his wife and children, Brantley said.

“If you were to lose your spirituality, you can get it back but the road there is difficult,” Brantley said. One way that Pastor Brantley advised the students to get their spirituality back was to go back to their foundation. This foundation is in the form of their family and home.

“Your spirituality may be lost, but your foundation will always be there; like a building, the foundation is the strongest part,” said Pastor Brantley.

The crowd that night was more of a gathering, creating an intimate setting for the talk. Durell Snow ’14 felt that the talk with Pastor Brantley was an influential one.

“I feel like a person has to keep in touch with their spirituality, it’s important to self meditate to keep that spirituality,” said Durell. “I’ve had moments on campus that try to take me away from my spirituality, but this talk helped remind me that my spirituality is who I am.”

“He touched issues that students on campus are experiencing, but do not have enough courage to voice out their opinions on,” said Gaelle Isazu ’13, one of the administrators of UMOJA helped plan the event. “I think it’s something that was needed and should be done here and there because some people have questions that they need answers to, some want a little direction and others want to find something new.”

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