COLUMN: Find your passion in life, enjoy the present
The other day, I was sitting around with a bunch of new folks just getting to know each other when someone began asking the standard questions, “Where are you from? Where do you work? What’s your major?” Such creativity.
Then again, why do we always ask the same dumb questions over and over again? Like we really get to know a person any better. Next time, try one of these questions:
“What’s your favorite thing about your respective gender?”
“You know that store by 10th and Main called Maternity in Style. When was maternity ever in style?”
“If someone gave you a million dollars to eat a poop sandwich, would you do it?”
“If a mute kid swears, does his mom wash his hands with soap?”
But that time, we stuck with the traditional Q & A. Lame-O, I know. My friend asked, “Where do you work?”
One of the girls responded, “The Biology Building.”
Then, he asked, “So, what’s your major?
The girl responded, “If I work in the Biology Building, then what do you think my major is?”
I replied, “Umm … sarcasm.”
Yeah, now she doesn’t really ever want to talk to us again, but I think deep down inside she knows it was pretty funny. Girls respect that in a guy.
After all the enemy-making though, my friend finally brought out the killer question, “So what are you going to do in life?”
Of course, as spring rolls around, the question starts to nag at all of us. What are we going to do? Some of us will be back in the fall ready to plug away for another year or two of college. But then what? What lies out there beyond Old Main Hill? Out there, they start using big, ugly-sounding words like mortgage, career and a Roth IRA. Out there you have to be all normal and everything.
Of course, many are anxious to leave and embrace normalcy. They’ve had their fair share of university life. It’s time to hit the real world. Not me though.
I’d rather never grow up.
I figure I’ll never hold down much of a normal job in life. Of course, there are enough normal people out there to work all those normal jobs anyway. As for me, I’ll stick with the nonconforming.
Helicopter pilot. Banjo player. Lumberjack. Something along those lines.
Must we always look forward (often with anxiety) to the future? Why can’t we be kids for just a little longer and enjoy things?
It’s funny how we often complain about the rigors of university life, only to graduate, move on and yet wish for the good ol’ college days again. Only then do we realize how much we really enjoyed it. We’re never quite content in life, just wishing for the future or the past, yet never content with the present.
University life is one place where you’re truly allowed to be yourself, uninhibited, not needing to impress a boss, in-laws, or anyone else. But yet, many of us get so tired that we forget the joys of college. We stop reading for the sake of reading and learning for the sake of learning. We just float along, barely able to get by. Professors ask of us something, and we give the bare minimum. Most days, we’re out just fighting fires.
Most of us.
But then there’s a few out there who never seem to fall into that same rut. We all know somebody like that. They’re always so passionate about things, even school. They really care about something, anything. And it’s those people that we gravitate toward.
College is such a beautiful time in life. Every day you get to meet new people and learn new things. There is so much out there to be discovered, just waiting for us. So why not be passionate about college? It sure beats a poop sandwich.
Jon Cox is a junior majoring in print journalism. Comments can be sent to jcox@cc.usu.edu.