Wanted: The Flashy Thing From Men In Black
Jameson Ketchum
Issue date: 5/30/08 Section: Post
If anyone out there happens to have the device from "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" that lets one erase certain people, places and times from their memory please contact me. I will pay top dollar as long as it works quickly and flawlessly to where I have zero memory of certain people and?events?that have taken place this year both on and off the Western's campus.
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The other day I was sitting in the library?procrastinating when I overheard one of the worst conversations of the year. We've all heard and been apart of these conversations and I'm not saying that I'm any different.?However, on this particular day, while I browsed the web pages of the?To Write Love on Her Arms website reading stories of self-harm, staggering statistics on suicide and the overall?general hopelessness of a generation, I found this particular conversation vomit-inducing. A young man was eagerly hitting on a female student who was clearly uninterested. She was shopping for shoes online while the man promised her that he could get her those particular shoes for less than half price. After several minutes of back and forth in which the man promised the woman many more extravagant things, the conversation switched to what Paris Hilton might really be like.?This went on for at least another twenty minutes.
?????????????
Are we really this dull? Do we really care about such trivial things? I realize that this was just?two people and hopefully not an accurate representation of Western students. But as ridiculous as their conversation was, it made me think. I have learned far more this year outside of the classroom than I did inside of it (and I have the grades to prove it).
This year, I spent much more time in the minds of authors and artists like Richard Hell, Stephen Christian, Paulo Coelho, Banksy?and William Young than I did learning why Gulliver urinated on the villagers or why Heathcliff was always so bitter. And I'm glad I did! I'm tired of being so wrapped up in things that are not of my choosing. I realize that doing and reading what I want will not help me get my degree any faster but for my own peace of mind and my own sanity, I don't really care. We waste so much time and money on things that are currently doing us no good as well as having zero effect on our future. It kills me that people would rather watch The Hills than read a book or try to create something. Do you really want to look back on this time in your life and only remember a bunch of TV shows and meaningless things? Or even worse, do you want to look back and not remember anything at all?
?????????????????
I'm not by any means saying you should only sit around reading books, that would be quite contrary to my point. I'm saying that we put too much emphasis on useless things. Sitting there, right next to these two people?discussing designer purses and whose parents had more money while I was reading people's real stories of addiction and self-injury made me sick. How crazy would it be to accidentally overhear people talking about literature, philosophy or (God forbid!) spiritual matters? The contrast?occupying that little space of the library was mind blowing to me. I
'm not saying I'm a saint and they are terrible people, but I just hope that people look at their priorities a little more closely especially as they get older and have the ability to actually make change in the world. •
?????????????
The other day I was sitting in the library?procrastinating when I overheard one of the worst conversations of the year. We've all heard and been apart of these conversations and I'm not saying that I'm any different.?However, on this particular day, while I browsed the web pages of the?To Write Love on Her Arms website reading stories of self-harm, staggering statistics on suicide and the overall?general hopelessness of a generation, I found this particular conversation vomit-inducing. A young man was eagerly hitting on a female student who was clearly uninterested. She was shopping for shoes online while the man promised her that he could get her those particular shoes for less than half price. After several minutes of back and forth in which the man promised the woman many more extravagant things, the conversation switched to what Paris Hilton might really be like.?This went on for at least another twenty minutes.
?????????????
Are we really this dull? Do we really care about such trivial things? I realize that this was just?two people and hopefully not an accurate representation of Western students. But as ridiculous as their conversation was, it made me think. I have learned far more this year outside of the classroom than I did inside of it (and I have the grades to prove it).
This year, I spent much more time in the minds of authors and artists like Richard Hell, Stephen Christian, Paulo Coelho, Banksy?and William Young than I did learning why Gulliver urinated on the villagers or why Heathcliff was always so bitter. And I'm glad I did! I'm tired of being so wrapped up in things that are not of my choosing. I realize that doing and reading what I want will not help me get my degree any faster but for my own peace of mind and my own sanity, I don't really care. We waste so much time and money on things that are currently doing us no good as well as having zero effect on our future. It kills me that people would rather watch The Hills than read a book or try to create something. Do you really want to look back on this time in your life and only remember a bunch of TV shows and meaningless things? Or even worse, do you want to look back and not remember anything at all?
?????????????????
I'm not by any means saying you should only sit around reading books, that would be quite contrary to my point. I'm saying that we put too much emphasis on useless things. Sitting there, right next to these two people?discussing designer purses and whose parents had more money while I was reading people's real stories of addiction and self-injury made me sick. How crazy would it be to accidentally overhear people talking about literature, philosophy or (God forbid!) spiritual matters? The contrast?occupying that little space of the library was mind blowing to me. I
'm not saying I'm a saint and they are terrible people, but I just hope that people look at their priorities a little more closely especially as they get older and have the ability to actually make change in the world. •
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