2008 Woodie Awards
Living best years of life
Beth Murdock
Issue date: 2/23/07 Section: Opinion
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Sometimes people say things that are just really dumb. Most of the time these statements are fairly innocuous but sometimes they're actually kind of funny. From time-to-time even I enjoy making asinine comments on purpose, just for laughs.
However, there are a few disturbingly common expressions that I make it a policy never to use. These are phrases so obtuse that they border on being morally reprehensible. They include gems like "Everything happens for a reason," "Because I said so," and "This is disgusting. Try some!" As infuriating as those examples can be, the one that really frosts my cookies is "These are the best years of your life."
Now that I'm in college I hear that sentence all the time, almost exclusively from "grown-ups." It's typically accompanied by a far away, misty-eyed expression. The speaker is lost in thought, envisioning what they recall as their own glory days. It's easy to see why they feel this way. There are so many ways in which college is really great.
College students are exposed to unprecedented opportunities for intellectual, social and cultural stimulation and growth. There are a million ways to spread your wings and find your niche. You can play a sport, write a play, join a fraternity, run for office, study abroad, assist a professor in scientific research, or if you're really cool and special, write for the student newspaper. In college there are no parents, no curfews and no shortages of liquor. It truly is a fantastic situation.
College life appears especially rosy when compared to life immediately following graduation. Periods of transition are always tough, but the transition into full, unadulterated adulthood has to be particularly scary. The future is uncertain, the stakes are high and there's no going back. The few events in adult life that are foreseeable are not the sort that we prefer to look forward to. There will be physical aging, financial insecurity and loss, not to mention the ever advancing specter of our own mortality.
However, there are a few disturbingly common expressions that I make it a policy never to use. These are phrases so obtuse that they border on being morally reprehensible. They include gems like "Everything happens for a reason," "Because I said so," and "This is disgusting. Try some!" As infuriating as those examples can be, the one that really frosts my cookies is "These are the best years of your life."
Now that I'm in college I hear that sentence all the time, almost exclusively from "grown-ups." It's typically accompanied by a far away, misty-eyed expression. The speaker is lost in thought, envisioning what they recall as their own glory days. It's easy to see why they feel this way. There are so many ways in which college is really great.
College students are exposed to unprecedented opportunities for intellectual, social and cultural stimulation and growth. There are a million ways to spread your wings and find your niche. You can play a sport, write a play, join a fraternity, run for office, study abroad, assist a professor in scientific research, or if you're really cool and special, write for the student newspaper. In college there are no parents, no curfews and no shortages of liquor. It truly is a fantastic situation.
College life appears especially rosy when compared to life immediately following graduation. Periods of transition are always tough, but the transition into full, unadulterated adulthood has to be particularly scary. The future is uncertain, the stakes are high and there's no going back. The few events in adult life that are foreseeable are not the sort that we prefer to look forward to. There will be physical aging, financial insecurity and loss, not to mention the ever advancing specter of our own mortality.
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