Let’s take a stroll down Memory Boulevard, shall we? Think back with me to this time last year. For those of you who are freshman and weren’t on campus at that time, allow me to set the stage a little bit for you.
One year ago today, we were in the heat of one of the wildest presidential elections in the history of the country – or at least in my lifetime. We were living in an economy that was coming apart at the seams, and the media took it upon themselves to blow it way out of proportion, and blame George Bush himself for all of it, apparently hoping to cause a panic that would do away with this nation forever. Fuel prices were up, stocks were down, people were losing their jobs like it was their job (get it?!), and it was impossible to turn on the news without someone telling you that you would be homeless by the end of the week. And in this time of turmoil and panic, we here at the University of Southern Indiana were starting our school year. On campus, people with clipboards prowled around looking for people whom they could register to vote, annoying every single passerby with the same question (“Are you registered to vote?”) for two months straight. Campus political organizations splattered every square of open sidewalk with obnoxious and scathing political smut.
Collegiate students are an interesting group of people when it comes to politics. For some reason, this is the age when people start to become very interested in what is going on in the world and how they can shout loud enough to make positive changes. At this time last year, I distinctly remember that EVERYONE was talking about politics. We took class time out of all classes to talk politics and economics, and it almost always ended in a heated argument between students. Normally, this sort of thing would interest me, but I quickly realized that 99% of all the people that would talk about it had no idea what they were talking about. The people who shouted the loudest and got the most passionate about the issues were almost always the ones that were most in the dark, typically and predictably parroting sentences straight off of late night opinion shows to showcase their poorly formed views as loudly as possible. By the end of the election, I didn’t even care who won. I just wanted the whole stupid mess to be over with so I didn’t have to listen to stupidity anymore.
Now, I’m certain that at heart, each and every one of these ill-informed media puppets really did want to help contribute to a better world; yada, yada, yada. But their actions (i.e. yelling about stuff they have no real information about) were certainly not helpful to what they were trying to do, and usually ended up being counterproductive. I personally considered not voting just because I was so tired of both sides (while standing at the ballot box, I honestly considered doing a write-in vote for Jesus, because heaven knows he could do a better job than either of the candidates, but decided against it).
But what can we do? As young people, there is a part of us that wants to be involved, needs to make the world better, and is looking for a fight. But we have to be careful that what we are saying makes sense and can be backed up, otherwise we are just blowing hot air. I guess what I’m trying to say is: don’t let your actions spoil your intentions.
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