At the University, students of different races don't interact. Fraternity members look down upon tenting and refuse to participate in "campus wide" activities such as the beer gardens or the campus semi-formal. Independents sneer at girls in black stretch pants, certain types of students believe that they're too cool to associate with 99 percent of the student body and most of the more artistic, "alternative" individuals on this campus abhor Duke and everyone in it. Surprisingly enough, I used to actually think these were serious problems that needed to be addressed. Quite frankly, I'm not so sure anymore that we should even bother.
Webster's dictionary defines a problem as, "A question proposed for solution or consideration." In the past four years, I have seen few people working particularly hard to solve the issues that divide this campus. Consequently, perhaps the problems of this University really aren't problems after all because most students, regardless of the ideals they espouse, simply don't care. Why don't they care? Because they don't have to. And therefore, really, why should they?
The convenient rationalization for why Duke students are apathetic is because they feel powerless. Since I have the dictionary handy, I can tell you that Webster's defines someone who is powerless as, "weak, feeble, unable." Somehow, when I think of Duke students, those are not the first words that spring to mind.
Instead, most University students are extremely smart, wealthy and have access to abundant resources. As a result, almost all of us are apathetic, not because we feel powerless, but because we are actually too powerful. We're getting a great education, have enough money to buy all the beer we need to keep us happy and don't need to worry about paying the mortgage or holding a family together. So what if we don't have friends of different races? Who cares if some superficial fraternity guy or a loser independent looks down on us? This school is big enough and we are all powerful enough that we can float through our four years here at Duke without any of these issues effecting us in any of these issues affecting us in the slightest way.
Some people argue that we are cheating ourselves unless we push ourselves beyond our comfort zones and strive to create a harmonious civil community. I'd like to believe that's true. But let's be honest. Who seems more happy, the people who are disturbed by the problems of this University and struggle to overcome them, or the students who spend all of their time serving their own needs? The expression "ignorance is bliss" is not cited so often without reason.
Of course, I can't leave it at just that. Now's the part where I'm supposed to convince you why you really should care about your neighbors, why any of us should worry that 1,200 people will endure freezing temperatures to see a basketball game and 700 people will wait in line for over 10 hours for Dave Matthews tickets, but also no one will walk a few feet out his or her door to attend a speak-out on the Chapel steps.
Most of us come to this university from a position of power. And a Duke education simply allows us to continue being powerful, to ensure that each of us remains one of the elite rather than one of the suffering masses. Why then should we be part of a community when we can rise above everyone else's petty concerns?
Despite my sense of moral righteousness, I'll admit that I can't find an answer, but occasionally, an answer finds me. It claws at the corners of my heart when I have to wait in a huge line at Alpine Bagels surrounded by a bunch of sorority girls talking about rush. It grabs at my stomach when I'm confronted with Arab students who attack the state of Israel and my Jewish people or with conservative students who show disdain for my liberal ideals. It's called hatred. And it's not naive idealism or academic nonsense, but a real truth I feel inside. For I know, given the right circumstances, that I can hate any one of you.
I'm not alone. Everyone has his or her own unique feelings of hatred. For most of us, these emotions aren't very frequent or intense. But they could be. History has proven that people living in fractured communities can never remain peaceful for long. If you don't understand the people around you, then you have zero tolerance for the beliefs they hold that are different from your own. And inevitably, we all get fed up with shouldering the burdens we feel that other people place upon us.
I know we're not living in Germany, South Africa or the Middle East. Just Duke University. So maybe it doesn't matter if we float through our lives here unaware or unconcerned. But then again, maybe that's what people in those places used to believe. Anne Deavere Smith implored us all to come out of our safe houses. But one day, we may find hatred in the eyes of the black student, homosexual or sorority girl living next door and realize that none of our houses are safe any longer. I wish more of us were paying attention. That day might be today.
Joshua Weber is a Trinity senior.
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