Love and Honor one another.

The message on our shirts at our annual Pride Day game is a simple one, and one that is derived from the essence of what it means to be a Miamian. Love and Honor are at the core of each person who represents Miami, and that is what we do every day as members of the RedHawks field hockey program.

It is a tremendous privilege to wear the red-and-white and represent Miami, and with that privilege comes the responsibility of not just accepting, but embracing and living the Code of Love and Honor.

It is a code that is at the very heart of our team culture, one that is shared by members of the program before they arrive in Oxford, Ohio, and one they carry with them long after they have graduated as a champion from, as Robert Frost described, “the most beautiful campus that ever was.”

So when our code says “I respect the dignity, rights, and property of others and their right to hold and express disparate beliefs,” not only do we acknowledge the right of others to love whom they choose but also we celebrate it. We stand together as Miamians, and, again as per the Code, welcome the diversity of people, ideas, and experiences.

Sunday’s field hockey Pride Game is an affirmation that the right love is free of qualifications or judgments.

We can dignify the beliefs that members of our communities—in the program, in the department, at Miami, in Oxford, in Ohio—are valued as members of said communities, and that we celebrate the diversity that exists at the same time we celebrate the tie that binds us together—playing hockey.

At today’s game we can celebrate the students and faculty of Spectrum or the 1809 Alumni Board here at Miami, just as much as we can celebrate what each of us brings to all of our communities.

In some cases, these communities can overlap, and those intersections lead to a wealth of experiences that only make it more evident that we are all a part of this journey together.

Collectively, we can make this world a better place. We can celebrate the men and women of the London Royals Hockey Club, an organization which stands as a perfect example of hockey players who are visible every day in their support of LGBT rights—those very rights we have pledged to respect as members of the Miami community.

We all have many different reasons why we play hockey, but many are very similar. We play for the pure love of the sport, the enjoyment, the camaraderie that helps us get through tough times and heightens our joy at the good times.

We play to represent an institution that prepares us to make the world a better place. We are proud to share that love every time we step on the field.

Today, we can be proud to step on the field and share that we believe that everyone has the right to love whomever they love.

Today, we can demonstrate Love and Honor by supporting and caring, not just for our fellow Miamians, but for all of our fellow citizens of the world.

Love and Honor one another.

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