collected writings

who Cares About Ryan and Mike

It is not easy to think for yourself, to stand alone, swim upstream rather than with the flow, to be an individual instead of a body in a faceless herd. I know this is difficult because, self-supporting and independent as I might consider myself, I occasionally give in to temptation and rely on others to make my decisions for me.

I still fall victim to fads and fashions, and acquire things that I probably do not need but think that I do because some outside influence tells me so.

Life tends to be easier when other people do my thinking for me, more secure and less dangerous. In these cases, I still don't know exactly what lies for me in the future, but when I listen to others I usually have a pretty good idea. This easy access of knowledge can prove to be very comfortable, and the human being can easily be defined by its search for comfort.

However, when I have other people make decisions for me or tell me what to think rather than giving myself the time to figure things out for myself, I am always worse off. I know I am not alone in this; my parents or my professors can tell me something time and time again, but I will only remember it if I learn it for myself, and I am sure that this is the same for many others.

Often times, what others tell me turns out to be wrong, unnecessary and irrelevant, or just plain false, so in these cases I am much better off thinking for myself. And when I do, I end up being right, eighty-six percent (or so) of the time. The other times I am wrong; but I would rather come to my own conclusions and be wrong than be told what to think and be right.

Maybe I'm just stubborn and pig-headed. Maybe I'm a masochist, when life could be so much easier if I would just relax and go with the flow.

What do my thoughts and opinions have to do with recent events on campus? Not much.

I have long been a proponent of free speech, and I truly believe that we are yet to find the limits of what is legally acceptable and what is not. After all, you have to accept the bad (and the annoying) with the good.

It seems to me that, with only a few small exceptions, those affiliated with the Ryan and Mike media blitz campaign have filled out the necessary paperwork and jumped through the necessary legal hoops to share their opinions on campus.

I have not been assaulted, accosted, or terribly bothered by the sudden presence of a small army of students wearing green shirts. I don't agree with their message or the fact that they feel the need to share it with the world, however, as I said, free speech is free speech.

I will not attend their oration, for no reason better than the fact that I trust and believe myself, in myself, and my own opinions to a much stronger degree than I would ever believe in anything anyone else could ever tell me. Call it faith in myself.

I wonder (with no intended malevolence) how many of those who chose to wear a green shirt have this same faith, faith in themselves and their opinions rather than faith that has been created unnaturally by outside forces. These influences can be anything, parents, friends, media or books , but as long as they are accepted blindly, without applied self-aware thought, they are much weaker than the forces of individuality.

The only force that matters is the belief structure of the individual, the ability of the individual to make her or his own decisions. Everything else is secondary, the individual is, and should always be, first and foremost.

How many will listen to Ryan and Mike, and blindly accept what they have to say because of an unwilling nature to think for themselves, a hesitation to think at all for fear of the answers one might receive, or a complete and total lack thereof?

Believe in only what you can determine and prove for yourself and to yourself, not what anyone else tells you to believe. I know it can be hard, difficult work, but in the long run (and yes...I do mean the long run) it is worth it, because your beliefs will be founded in yourself, not on anything else, and they will consequentially be that much stronger.

If you believe what you choose to believe based purely on thought, self-aware reflection and self-experience rather than on the thoughts, reflections or experiences of others, than you will have my respect and my blessings.

And we all know how important it is to have the respect and blessings of others.