Just a brief observation from my ever-so-humble standpoint.  

When we write articles for the paper, we feel the need to express a concern of ours, and bring it to the attention of the public.  However, there are usually only three replies that we receive.  

One, somebody gets offended and feels the need to tell us why.  

Two, somebody agrees and sends us a hearty “right on!”  

Three, nobody really cares, and so it goes unnoticed.  

Unfortunately, there seems to be a key element missing in the whole situation: Nobody does a thing about it.  

When someone complains about littering, does the campus get any cleaner?  When someone whines about chivalry, are doors held open more often?  

Those are just a few examples, but I believe they get the point across.  What we do here is pretty much what everyone else in the world does, with one exception.  We get payed for what we complain about.  

What do you get out of it?  

This is pretty much a generalized insult at pretty much everybody, so don’t waste any time feeling insulted.  

If you complain, fine, but don’t expect everyone to get inspired by your moving words unless you intend to back it up.  In other words, take your own words to heart and do something about it.  If something annoys you, fix it. Otherwise, your bitter words shouldn’t have to fall on my uncaring ears.  

The problem with the entire situation is that everyone has learned to express themselves very well with the help of encouraging guidance counsellors and the self-esteem building Sesame Street.  

However,  we’ve also learned that doing something requires energy and actual work,  guidance counsellors never bothered to tackle that problem and Sesame Street was too busy teaching us our ABC’s.  

We can’t blame all of our faults on others, though.  It is technically our problem if our generation only knows how to whine about a problem rather than do anything about it.  

As much as we’d like to pretend that we’re individuals, we’re still sheep after all these years. Most of us can’t stand to eat lunch by ourselves, let alone take matters into our own hands.  

Don’t worry, I can’t claim exemption from the rule.  Whenever I see a couple idiots sauntering drunkenly along King Street, I don’t have the nerve to say anything, and when I see a big guy throw some trash on the sidewalk when a trash can is only a couple feet away, I mumble to myself just like the rest of you.  

However, my only open complaints are made through the newspaper and, like I said,  I get paid for that.  So please, unless you actually intend to do something about a problem, keep your pathetic little complaints to yourself.