Priorities

I had a long conversation with a friend last week, and some recent events have solidified my belief in what we both agreed on- we are done with university. Let me rephrase that. We are done with the university atmosphere. The learning is wonderful, the information invaluable, but the people?

I often wonder if adults are just big kids without parents to turn to and so they take out their aggression, their pain, their anger, their sadness and everything else on anyone who will either listen, give sympathy, or both. Adults are children without a caregiver, someone to wipe their tears and kiss their boo-boos better. Maybe this is where relationships fall? The replacement of the missing parent. I've seen many people turn into complete babies when around their significant others... even resorting to baby talk. Is this a regression, a need for that dependence on someone that you had as a child?

Whatever is going on, university students are not "coming of age" nor are they "turning into adults". It could be Nipissing's small atmosphere, but for the most part these "adults" are far from adults, resorting to childish backstabbing, name-calling, clique-obsessed, "all about me" people whose sole focus is themselves and only themselves.

And it's not just post-secondary students either. It's also the kids who never moved on from high school. The ones who got a job, and maintain that high school mentality despite themselves being five to ten years outside off those enclosed public school walls.

The point is, I ask: am I doomed to run into this same type of people after I graduate? Most likely, but hopefully on a much lesser scale.

You have problems. I get it. I do. I really, really do get it. But unless you can sit there and tell me that you have REAL issues? Please, don't keep repeating yourself to me, seeking attention which I refuse to give you. There are so many problems in this world for me to put everything on pause to give you sympathy on a self-focused attention-wanting sob story that I cannot possibly know whether it is true or not.

You're sad because no one loves you? Guess what? They don't love you because you're a whining idiot! You feel unwanted, unloved? When have you taken the time to make someone feel that they're wanted or loved?

To me an adult looks beyond themselves and contributes to the issues of the school, the community, hell even the world. A child is someone who makes a spectacle of not only themselves, but the latest gossip... and whose sole existance seems to be about creating drama that they constantly complain they want to be rid of. Here's a tip: Do not create your own shit.

This post is coming off a little harsh, I realize this, but I'm so tired of it all. I really am. If people put half the effort of grieving their own problems into fighting for something more... substantial, the world would change. The world would be a better place, because the apathy would disappear.

Oh, and saying you support something but then doing NOTHING about it does NOT constitute a fight for a cause on your part. Saying does nothing. Doing does something.

When the school year is over, I want to sit down and look back on my university career and ask myself: did I make a difference? Did I contribute to the society as a whole? Besides getting an education, did I actually make a difference at Nipissing?

I know my answer.

Ask yourself, what's yours?

Because when you move on from this school you will be entering the real world, a world that does not treat children kindly, and will not stand for the irrationality of such. There are no naptimes if you're cranky, there are no "time outs" if you get out of line, and there is no parent with unconditional love towards you to make things all better no matter how nasty you are. There is swift punishment. You are in an adult world.

Will you be adult enough to face it?