Category | Op Ed

Why You’re Divine

Published on April 28, 2009 by Edward Drake

As a freshman, I still love the novelty of things that make me say, “This is college.”  When I take out my trash and I notice the dumpster is filled with empty beer cases, I say, “This is college.” On the green, I see guys throwing frisbees and girls sunbathing, and I say, “This is college.” Recently, a stranger walked up to me in the Student Center and asked me how to get to room 310. I told him he would have to either take the elevator or the stairs. He then replied, “Can I just type in 3-1-0, on the elevator?” I walked away from this person, and I asked my friend, “this is college, right?”

This is college, where we are all supposed to be moving forward in our lives.

But does anyone truly know where they’re going? Even if you think you know where you are going, how do you know? “I’m going to be a lawyer,” you say, but then the next day you fall off a building or in love. “I’ll never be a dishwasher,” you promise, but then you have to pay those bills someway or another. Never, Ever, Always, and Forever are going to be false sometimes.

People always ask me what I want to be when I grow up, more so since college started. I want to be alive and happy. But as far as profession, I don’t know. So what am I doing in college? Doing something that interests me, English. I’m reading and writing. But what are you going to do with that English major? Teach, I suppose. Read, probably. Write, obviously.

My point is what does it matter? Yeah, you need to “do something with your life,” but why does that something always mean an accomplishment that earns money? I’m going to college. I’m getting a degree, but I could just as easily not be doing these things and living a full life. Don’t get me wrong; I love college and if I could, I would just become a professional student, living the rest of my life taking classes and majoring in one thing then another; I would build up student loans even my great, great grand kids would be in debt over, but student loans terminate when you die so that should work (at least mine do don’t hold me to that).

Not only do I hate conversations dealing with professions, I get frustrated when people center their lives on what they are going to do (roughly 90% of the people I’ve met in college). That’s fine if you think you know what you want to do, and I’m glad you’re excited, but I’m not going to buy that you have found the meaning of life. I don’t believe that on your deathbed, with you’re last breath you’ll exclaim, “I’m glad I was an engineer!” (eyes close, lights fade, curtains fall) There has to be more then that.

And on the subject of college, I also find “prestige” to be a word. And that’s it. I realize what it means, and I hear how it’s used, but I feel like we are making the wrong connection with it. People go to different colleges to obtain degrees of different prestige. Obviously, by our society’s standards, a degree in peeing from Harvard ranks more prestigious than a degree in micro-biology, with a focus in genetics, from a school like KSU, because Harvard is more prestigious. Why? I’m not sure why. I’m sure grades, size, published faculty, tradition, so on and so forth play a factor, but does that make them have the smarter students? No. Here at KSU, I might be sitting in Fitness 1000 with the next Einstein, and because of a lack of financial resources, he’s here, and not at MIT. Who knows? I don’t.

Which brings me to my last point. I could be wrong. Who’s to say who’s right or wrong? Everyone has their own opinions based on the views of their friends, families, or role models, and until evidence is given that makes you question what you thought before, you’ll always think you’re right. Can you think of anything right now that you know you’re wrong about (not morally)? You might not know everything about something, but of what you do know, you have opinions. You’re human. It’s fine. Your opinions are what make you unique, but listening to and understanding what makes other people tick is truly divine. For reading this, you are divine.