I got a lot out of Marine Corps boot camp: self-confidence, discipline, and multiple scars, among others. One of the many things I managed to retain was a bit of wisdom an officer passed on to our platoon once during a pep talk.

“Pride cannot be manufactured,” he told us.

In other words, taking pleasure in your association with an inanimate object is an extremely tricky thing, and setting out to do it is an exercise in futility. Think about it – how do you make yourself, or anyone else, proud of something? Do you sit down one day and repeat “I am proud of this and that” until, magically, you are? Is there a useful self-help video with step-by-step instructions on how to take satisfaction in a possession?

No, and that’s because creating pride outside of yourself is infeasible, much like defining justice or making someone fall in love. Pride is an abstract, and therefore doing anything with it is nigh on impossible.

So I’m keep in a curious and slightly amused eye on the Student Senate’s efforts to create an “honor pledge” here at Eastern. The student body president of Texas A & M, the school which has inspired the idea at Eastern, said the pledge works because “people want to have pride in the school.”

Creating that pride is a noble goal. Naive, but noble.

The problem is that it really can’t be done.

See, by its nature, pride is a byproduct, an unplanned but pleasant side effect, the unpredictable result of an action pointed entirely in another direction. It whooshes in without warning, and although you can probably identify its source, you’d be hard-pressed to think of one thing you did specifically to cause its arrival. You may be able to create an environment that breeds pride, but that’s about as close as you’ll get.

I agree with the senate that Eastern is definitely deficient in the pride category, and that something needs to be done about our apathy toward our alma mater. I also believe that Student Senate is one of the groups on campus that can combat the indifference many students have about Eastern.

But making that a goal simply won’t work. Saying you want to create pride in the school is like saying you want to improve Eastern’s reputation. That’s all well and good, but how exactly do you do it?

You don’t do anything. You let it happen.

Right now everyone’s still riding the wave of euphoria caused by the men’s basketball team’s improbable run to the NCAA tournament. It was a strong injection of pride in the sickly attitude that prevails at Eastern.

But I’m guessing coach Rick Samuels didn’t walk into practice with his team every day and say, “OK, men, time to make students proud of Eastern again.” He said, “Hit your jump shots, make your free throws, and, for God’s sake, get a rebound.”

And because they hit their jump shots, made their free throws and rebounded (and Kyle Hill had a postseason hot streak for the ages), we all rallied around the television in our Eastern gear and cheered them on, much to the bewilderment of others who knew that, prior to now, most of us hardly gave a damn about the Panthers or basketball in general.

Seeing our guys run on ESPN delighted us to no end, but I dare say that Henry Domercant wasn’t really thinking about us whenever he buried a three-pointer. He was thinking about winning the game. And winning the next one. And pretty soon he and the Panthers won 21 games, the team was a part of March Madness, and every one of us was telling complete strangers that Eastern was going to pull the upset of the tourney.

That’s pride. That’s something that, like my officer said, can’t be manufactured.

So I tip my hat to the Student Senate. You guys are on the right track. But set your sights a little lower. Eastern’s pride will come. The seeds are already planted. It’s up to you to give it a safe, bright place to grow.