This is my last regular column for this paper.That realization is setting in as I sit down at my computer to write this, and all kinds of feelings are washing over me. All of my mentors and all of my colleagues have told me I need hard news experience, and next semester I intend to go out and find it.So, as I prepare to go into a world of pressing deadlines, non-compliant sources and later nights, I can’t help but think about what this job has meant for me.It’s been a great ride.I started working at this paper purely by chance. I was sitting in the old, yellowed Pentagon Cafeteria (before it had been transformed into the snazzy new “The Five” — man, I feel old all of a sudden) when a friend randomly walked by on his way to Reveille applications.I did it on a whim. Now it’s a career and a calling I hope to pursue after graduation.Writing as a columnist for 15,000 circulation paper as a sophomore is a daunting prospect. Thousands of people are watching what you say, and many of them are just waiting to catch every mistake you’ve made.And, trust me, I’ve made my share of mistakes. I’ve referred to a state senator by the name of an LSU football player. I’ve accidentally said a person without a college degree didn’t have a high school diploma. And God only knows how many little errors have made it into the paper.If there’s one thing this job has taught me, it is that everybody is human. Everybody makes mistakes — especially me.Columnists eventually come to love the hate mail. I’ve been told I’m a disgrace to my parents and to my country. I’ve been called a communist and a socialist, a Muslim and atheist. I’ve even been told to go work for Fox News.I’ve been called a wild-eyed liberal the same week I’ve been called a rigid, racist conservative. And the more comments I get that try to label me, the more I realize those labels don’t really apply.This is, at its core, what I’ve tried to say this whole time. Labels and generalizations are never sufficient. The easiest answer is usually the least correct, and the broadest generalizations are usually the most false.”Always” and “never” are seldom appropriate. The world is seldom painted in shades of black and white, but in varying sides of gray.The “beats” I’ve covered for this paper are politics and religion. They’re the things you’re not supposed to talk about at dinner, the things that are too divisive and intense for everyday discussion.What I’ve tried to say is that’s not how it has to be.In politics, we’re told we live in a bi-polar world of deep reds and blues. We’re told social progress only happens when one side “wins,” and we’re constantly looking to align ourselves against the side that loses.What I’ve tried to say is that’s not how it has to be. In politics, there’s always room for debate, the answer’s never obvious and the solutions are seldom easy. So we should stop trying to pretend any one person, party or ideology is always right — or anywhere close to it.In religion, we grapple with the biggest questions and the ultimate issues. The meaning of life — and the meaning of the afterlife — are up for debate, and souls and their salvation or at stake. The loudest, most publicized religious folk believe everyone else is evil, while the loudest non-religious folk believe everyone else is stupid.What I’ve tried to say is that’s not how it has to be. Nobody knows for certain whether there’s a God or what he looks like. We should stop trying to pretend we know all the answers to all the eternal questions and go about this life without damning each other to hell or otherwise.The most common criticism I’ve received as a columnist is that I don’t take positions. Well, what I’ve tried to say is that sometimes the best answer is “I don’t know,” and the best course of action is to listen.It’s a great big crazy world we live in. What I’ve really meant to say is we’re human, and there’s nothing wrong with admitting we don’t understand it.  And that means we need to work — together, all of us — until we do.Matthew Albright is a 21-year-old mass communication major from Baton Rouge. Follow him on  Twitter @TDR_malbright.—————Contact Matthew Albright at [email protected]