If you’re like me, you went home after your freshman year, looked at your dad, and proceeded to think there wasn’t a chance he raged as hard as you did. How could he have? He works 45 to 50 hours a week, spends Saturdays doing yard work and the peak of his year was placing second in the town bowling league in February.
However, what I’m beginning to realize as I approach graduation is that not only did my dad probably slug down as many Natty Lights (well, in his time, Old Styles) as I did, but he probably drank double or triple the amount. The reason is simple: the more ridiculous and stupid things you do in college, the less you do after you graduate.
Sure, I’ve had my fair share of encounters with our Campustown friends in blue over the last four years. I’ve woken up on stairs facing upwards, downwards and sideways. I’ve even made the 3 a.m. expedition from downtown to Barker. But did I do enough?
Once you leave this campus, you have to begin life; a full-time job and retirement account contributions become your major concerns. There’s no worrying about finding a tap for kegs, no fears about oversleeping a group project meeting and no struggles to find a ride home from Crusen’s at 2:30 a.m. on a Wednesday. Those things just don’t happen after May 13.
As much as Bradley tries to promote student involvement in an array of different educational activities (which are important), I think it’s dually important to balance that involvement in productive activities with stupid ones.
Ditch an Accounting Club meeting, get a group of buddies together and go to Jimmy’s on a Tuesday. Play some beer darts at 11 a.m. on a Sunday. This will all be foreign to you soon.
This matters, because as much as you want to say you’ll still be as fun as you are right now when you’re 50, that’s just not typically how life goes.
Go out and do something stupid. These short four years are your only chance.
