Spring Break
Quit Your Complaining And Start Acting
Aaron Igdalsky
Issue date: 12/4/07 Section: Commentary
I have given a great deal of thought as to what I would write about in my final column for the academic year. I will be studying abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina during the spring semester, and therefore will not be writing for The Daily Campus until the Fall 2008 semester. I knew that my "sign-off" couldn't be just like any old column, but at the same time, I didn't want it to be a sappy load either.
I've written about many issues in my column this year, issues that I think are of interest to college students. Presidential politics, criminal justice, the Middle East, I've done my absolute best to keep things interesting by engaging pertinent issues. But one issue continues to plague our generation: a lack of interest in politics, current events and society at large.
Thomas L. Friedman, a columnist with The New York Times who has won multiple Pulitzer Prizes, has called us "Generation Q," the "Q" representing "quiet." This could not be more accurate. Though there are certainly some of our peers who are engaged and interested in their government and performing their civic duty, they are in the minority. Simply look at the abysmal number of people our age who vote; in the most recent presidential election it was less than 50 percent.
I understand I may be preaching to the choir here: the fact that you are reading the newspaper and keeping an eye on what's going on means that you at least care a little bit. Sadly, just reading the paper isn't going to cut it.
A microcosm of this phenomenon is the Social Security crisis happening right now in the United States. The entitlement program that our parents paid into for years is being bankrupted due to mismanagement and growing life-expectancies. As it stands now, we will pay into the system until it completely bottoms out - which shouldn't take too long - and never reap the fruits of our labor. The ratio of Social Security beneficiaries to folks paying into the program used to be in the neighborhood of 1-to-16. It is now roughly 1-to-3. With only three people paying into the program for every one person receiving benefits, the program has no chance of sustaining itself. It is you and I who will ultimately shoulder the burden that this failure of a program will yield.
I've written about many issues in my column this year, issues that I think are of interest to college students. Presidential politics, criminal justice, the Middle East, I've done my absolute best to keep things interesting by engaging pertinent issues. But one issue continues to plague our generation: a lack of interest in politics, current events and society at large.
Thomas L. Friedman, a columnist with The New York Times who has won multiple Pulitzer Prizes, has called us "Generation Q," the "Q" representing "quiet." This could not be more accurate. Though there are certainly some of our peers who are engaged and interested in their government and performing their civic duty, they are in the minority. Simply look at the abysmal number of people our age who vote; in the most recent presidential election it was less than 50 percent.
I understand I may be preaching to the choir here: the fact that you are reading the newspaper and keeping an eye on what's going on means that you at least care a little bit. Sadly, just reading the paper isn't going to cut it.
A microcosm of this phenomenon is the Social Security crisis happening right now in the United States. The entitlement program that our parents paid into for years is being bankrupted due to mismanagement and growing life-expectancies. As it stands now, we will pay into the system until it completely bottoms out - which shouldn't take too long - and never reap the fruits of our labor. The ratio of Social Security beneficiaries to folks paying into the program used to be in the neighborhood of 1-to-16. It is now roughly 1-to-3. With only three people paying into the program for every one person receiving benefits, the program has no chance of sustaining itself. It is you and I who will ultimately shoulder the burden that this failure of a program will yield.
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