I find a lot of things offensive, but that’s never given me the right to stop a person from saying what he or she wants to say.
Some of us are just barely leaving the comfort of our parents’ homes, coming to college and being responsible for the very first time. Others of us have been on our own for some time now and are well aware of the world around us.
But whether you are fresh out of high school and finally free from the familial chains that bind you, or whether you have been on your own long enough to long for the days when Mom and Dad supported you, there’s one thing you can’t dispute about being an adult: You have your own views, and only you can change them.
Even if your responsibility is at a minimum (Ma & Pa pay the rent and Stafford pays tuition), you still have your own thoughts and morals. You have your own ideas and values. You have your own point of view that’s most likely shared with many of the people you associate with, and it’s probably a point of view not everyone agrees with.
Oh, and Ma & Pa get four out of five of your first paychecks since they’ve been so kind, but they also have to donate that money to a good scholarship fund for enabling you.
The biggest part of being an adult is coming to terms with the fact that not everyone around us is going to have the same vision we do. Do I find it a personal affront to the very nature of human rights that I’m not allowed to marry whom I love? Yes. Yes I do. But am I going to picket against those who can marry whom they love just because I can’t? No.
That’s because, no matter how much I want it, not everyone has the same views I do.
I would hope we all have that outlook—especially since we live in a world where we simply cannot control what everyone else is doing. We must be able to function in a world where things happen around us that offend us. Otherwise, we’d go insane.
I feel a bit like Ayn Rand right now. No, I don’t mean I’ve become an atheist who hates poor people. I mean I’m on the verge of beating you over the head with my argument. But, just in case you haven’t gotten it yet, let me put this in a little collegiate context.
With the onslaught of potential students who will surely come with a university status, we can’t expect to be the little college in the sheltered little town of St. George. We need to look around us and realize that diversity comes in many ways.
Whether that is in the form of multicultural students, differing religions, various political affiliations and, yes, even open and honest conversations about sex, we have to realize now that the world is simply full of things we may never agree with.
For those of you who can take a step back and let people be who they want to be, I applaud you. I rate you 10 out 10 debates won the next time you want to argue a point.
But for those of you who refuse to be adults and try to micromanage the world around you, I’m afraid I have to rate you a year out of Utah. I can think of no other way to acclimate someone to the real world. It’s not necessarily a punishment as it is forcing you to live in the real world.
By the way, I’m always looking for differing opinions, and I’d love to hear yours. “Like” The Skewed Review on Facebook.com/TheSkewedReview, and follow it on Twitter @TheSkewedReview, and let’s have a pleasant argument.
