Category | Op Ed

Consensus Editorial

Published on February 13, 2007 by The Sentinel

    The seasonal shelves at the grocery store have been pink and red
for a few weeks now, replacing all the after-Christmas mark-downs with
chocolates, hearts and stuffed animals. It’s the time of year for
special declarations of love and adoration, due to the favorite holiday
of greeting card companies.
    With all this love in the air, an issue on the college campus is
magnified. Why do students, in the best years of their lives and with
countless opportunities, pour themselves into serious relationships and
forget why they are in college? Don’t get us wrong, we’re not saying that there are not plenty of
healthy, long-term relationships between people who have lengthy lists
of extra-curricular activities. We are sure there are people who can
balance personal and academic lives with a mastery we cannot even
imagine.

    But for most people, opportunities for academic
programs, internships, jobs, clubs and organizations are passing them
by, as they spend each day with a significant other. Acting as though
this relationship is more important than anything else they will do,
students invest far too much time and energy in this aspect of their
lives.

    True, this is the time of our lives when we look the
best, and many of us are searching for the ones we will marry.

    Keep in mind that these years are also the absolute
best time for getting involved in campus and community organizations,
studying and traveling abroad, standing up for a cause, doing
missionary work, getting field experience through an internship or
summer job or even just partying as hard as you can. This is the chance
for learning things simply because we can, challenging our perspectives
and the outlooks of others.

    During college we make friends and connections with
co-workers, classmates and professors who will enrich our lives and
provide us with the network that will decide where we end up after
graduation.

    Believe us, there will be plenty of years [when the
partying begins to show in our bodies] for mellowing out and finding
“the one” to settle down with. This is when you can devote hours and
days and years of your life to romance, and put your girlfriend or
boyfriend at the very top of the list of priorities.

    We can hear people crying oppositions right now: “My
boyfriend completes me!” “I couldn’t live without her!” “We’re soul
mates!”

    That’s fantastic, we’re really happy for you. We’ve
all had relationships like that before. We’ve said the same things.

    We understand the time consuming nature of a serious
relationship.  But does a relationship have to consume all of your
time? Why is it that college couples spend every waking moment
together? It is like one can not go out without the other. Independence
should flourish, not wittle away.

    When those relationships hit the fan and you look at
your life and realize you have no other real interests or activities,
how will you define yourself? It is impossible to define yourself by
the terms of a relationship to another human being. It will leave you
empty, unsatisfied and with few significant accomplishments.

    Tell us we are mistaken when you go to fill out an
application for an internship or leadership position and notice that
the lines look rather bare. Tell us we are wrong in five years when we
are on the paths to successful careers with experience and networking
from years of work and student activities.

    Oh yeah, and we’ll be dating other hard-working
people with lots of personal and professional accomplishments.

    Our college days will be blissfully remembered as
the time when we were able to find the things that really mattered to
us, when we didn’t look to anyone else for permission or approval.

    Isn’t that what we’re here for? So why are you
wasting it in over-blown, over-dramatic relationships that involve all
this time and energy?

 Disclaimer: The opinions expressed
in the consensus editorial are solely those of the Sentinel newspaper
staff and editorial board. The views in no way represent Kennesaw State
University or its staff.