Sometimes, Duke students need to chill out.
I do not mean for them to become passive or complacent in academic pursuits, the job search or the maintenance of active social lives. Rather, students need to ease off the life-or-death seriousness of it all.
As undergraduate students, we are in the midst of what is often referred to as “the most fun time of our lives.” For just a few years, we have almost all of the freedoms of fully-grown adults with significantly reduced responsibilities.
Earlier this semester, someone wrote a column comparing the relationship between aliens and water in Hollywood blockbusters over the past decade. There was no context, no pompous pseudo-intellectual foundation and no reason for its existence. Yet, it was one of the best things I’ve read over my college career.
I showed it to one of my best friends, who immediately dismissed it as “stupid” and a “waste of time.” What made it so detestable? It had to be the off-the-wall topic. Otherwise it was an engaging, well-researched and thoughtful piece. Does everything here at Duke have to serve a greater purpose?
Screw that. We’re already at one of the premier research universities in the country. Everyone here has the tools for a rewarding post-college career. In the meantime, you can afford to take some time for yourself ... I promise it is not going to ruin your life.
But so many people I know here are too wrapped up in the details of their work, rather than accepting that there is some stuff outside their control. James B. Duke Professor of Behavioral Economics Dan Ariely knew as a second grader that he could work his butt off on his homework and get an A, or instead spend his time playing and still get a B. He took the latter approach. Things certainly seem to have worked out for him, judging by the number of people taking his class this semester.
Instead of adjusting the font on your resume for 18 hours, or bringing your toothbrush to Perkins so you don’t have to abandon your coveted study room, do something you will actually remember fondly when all your weekdays are booked from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
During your life here at Duke, take advantage of not having the weight of the world on your shoulders. Go tunneling. Get written up by your RA. Wear the loudest, most obnoxious clothes you own and play croquet in the middle of the quad while blasting an awful Def Leppard album for all to hear. You’ll never get the opportunity to do that again. Most people only have four years at Duke, and never see the cynosures around them.
For instance, did you know Durham is only an hour away from Siler City, home of the best burger joint in North Carolina? And that Siler City is only half an hour from the Devil’s Tramping Ground, a perfect circle in the woods where no plants grow and the Devil himself is said to pace as he conjures new ways to plot humanity’s destruction?
Now, can you think of a more awesome thing to do on a random Thursday than taunting the Prince of Darkness on his home court while clogging your arteries with the most delicious beef patties in the state? I can’t. I’ll be heading over there myself later this week.
I have two more weeks before I start supporting myself for the rest of my life. You can bet that I will squeeze as much stuff as I will want to remember in there before I graduate. Like Ferris Bueller once said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
Charlie Lee is currently editorial page managing editor and former design editor. He has been spending the past three years trying to find a way to get a picture of a squirrel with a party hat into The Chronicle. Congratulations, Charlie. Dreams do come true.
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