When dreaming about what college would be like, I always pictured a student body composed of people focused on the future. Students who know the impact they could have on the world. Students who seized that knowledge with the fiercest determination to make this place better than what our parents gave us. Sadly, it seems rock band Bowling for Soup is correct in its assertion that high school never ends. And my utopia of a socially and politically aware student body has been replaced with the bitter reality of people who care only about one thing: themselves. They are the “It’s all about me” group, ignorant of the world and sadly sometimes ignorant of the people standing around them. “Who composes this group?” you ask. Well, the answer is simple – just take a look around. If you stroll to class in groups of five clogging up the sidewalk while some poor kid struggles to get around you to get to class – you are in the group. If you drive by dorms blasting your music at 3 a.m. – you are in the group, too. And let’s not forget friends who want you to listen to the endless problems plaguing their lives, but when you want to actually make their lecture a conversation and share your own experiences, they head for the hills – people like these are officers in the “It’s all about me” club. Let’s take a second to contemplate what life would be like if people dislodged their heads from their butts and took some time to care about others. We would be able to complete school work on library computers without waiting 30 minutes for some bimbo to check their Facebook.com page. We would be able to sleep at night without some drunk dormmate screaming at the top of his lungs. We would actually be able to hold conversations. And there would be no need for Daily Reveille columnists, since there would be no injustices to rail against. It would be a perfect world. There comes a time when high school has to end – when we all grow up. We can no longer sit on the sidelines thinking only of ourselves while the plays of life are executed. I graduated high school this past year vowing to leave childish things like selfishness behind. Have you graduated?
—-Contact Allen Womble at [email protected]