Think About Today Before Tomorrow
By Alex Jakle
Staff Writer

The next time you are reading or studying for a test, ask yourself: “Why am I doing this?” You may find that you are doing your work because you like the subject material and want to learn more about it. However, you may also realize that your only compelling reason to do it is “Because I’m supposed to.” If this is the case, I can hear your rationalizations already: “I have to study to do well on this test so I can get a good grade in this class so I can major in that, and I have to major in that to go to graduate school in this so I can get a good job and buy a house and feed my cat.”

Do you hear yourself? You’re determining the outcome of the reaction between tert-butyl alcohol and hydrogen or figuring out what in the hell pyruvate does so you can purchase some real estate a decade from now. When you put it like that, does it not seem ridiculous? What about focusing on today? What about the rest of this week? What about every waking minute between now and when you actually buy that house?

I don’t want to sound like some sun-worshipping hippie who tells you to live in the moment and has no perspective about the future, but I really do feel that we should spend more time appreciating what we have now. I know we have to plan ahead, but there should be a limit to how much we let that control our lives. We are the victims of academic hypocrisy. The administration tells us not to plan ahead so much, that almost everyone changes their majors. That is good but then they expect pre-medical students to declare their life-long intentions in the first few weeks of school. That is bad. How on earth could anyone expect an 18 year old to know what they want to do with the rest of their life in the first 20 days of their college career?

A lot of us who will never be doctors are guilty, too. We plan, we think ahead, and we alter our lives around what we think we may be doing in a decade and a half. But is this really what we should be concentrating on?

Last week I did some research on graduate programs and, to my shock and horror, I found nothing that intriguing. It was disconcerting, but why should it be? I do not think it should bother me that I have no idea where I will be or what I will be doing three years from today. Rather than unnerving, this should be exciting.

The biggest issue I have with this incessant, pervasive plan-ahead culture is that I feel it robs us of the pleasure of the moment. Granted, people seem to seize the moment here more than other places, but we do not go lie on the grass for no reason often enough, and we certainly do not enjoy our classes enough.

We are to blame, though, not the classes. We should take what we want to, without worrying too much about where that will get us. Because let’s face it, none of us know exactly where we will be in ten years, that is part of the fun. Take what looks interesting, not what will get you that extra bedroom and half-bath in ten years, or the BMW in five. Imagine the horror of deciding to go pre-medical in your freshman year, and going through eight years of school only to find that being a rich doctor does not make you ridiculously happy. You lost eight years and, if you stay in medicine, it would be the rest of your life.

I do not want to come off as hedonistic, but do what you know will make you happy, be willing to try new things, and go out on that limb. Enjoy what you are doing now, do not try to sustain yourself on the thought of where it will get you a semester, a year, or ten years from now.

I blame society. Why do we ask little kids what they want to be when they grow up? Like any little kid is going to have any flipping idea where they are going to be in 20 years. We are practically bred to look ahead. Fight it. Those sun-worshipping hippies have some idea what they’re talking about.