It is uncommon for a day to go by when I don’t have something to say about everything. It is perverse and often baffling that my usual passions, political issues, current events and general intellectual “stuff” provide me with no editorial inspiration.
Those who know me can tell you that I am easily stirred into a fiery frenzy when my viewpoints are challenged. I can usually always defend my position any day of the week. Today, however, I feel completely apathetic and mute to expressing an opinion on any of the issues the world has to offer.
I realize that apathy is one of the most dangerous aspects of our society. We are bombarded on a daily basis with news reports on the importance of voicing our opinions. Whether it involves voting for the next president (or SGA president), or even finding the motivation to start my calculus homework before midnight, I know indifference is a poor quality to have.
However, I write about my own apathy without actually caring. I blame this partly on the phenomenon known as the sophomore slump, or to put it in Tech terms, the second-year slump.
I didn’t think it would ever happen to me. I was always so motivated and driven. My work was always completed a day before it was due. It was flawless in every single manner. Okay, maybe that is a bit of a lie, but I was always able to finish my work early enough to get a decent amount of sleep.
I had time to do extracurricular activities as well as volunteer with the local environmental group. Now I find myself falling behind in my classes and unable to keep up with all my work. I thank some higher power if I can remember to recycle or if I remember to go to all my Homecoming meetings.
I suppose this could be blamed on the massive workload that is required of all Tech students. Maybe this is also a sign that I am at the wrong school or that I am majoring in the wrong thing.
But I don’t think I can blame this sudden, but temporary, sense of indifference solely on the amount of work I have. As a freshman, I felt special. Everything from tutoring to freshman activities seemed to be geared towards helping me succeed.
As a second-year student, this semester at Tech seems to be passing unbearably slowly and has already been littered with numerous exams, which have completely destroyed me and my spirit. Tech is literally sucking the very opinionated life out of me. I just don’t have the time to thoroughly investigate or care about the opinions of others.
I feel like it is absolutely pointless to argue with someone who I know won’t change their mind. Formulating an opinion is the easiest thing to do. Making an argument based off of relative information and logic is hard.
Take this editorial, for example. Ordinarily, I would have been thrilled at the opportunity to be able to say whatever I wanted. However, I put it off until the very last minute because I dreaded having to actually argue an issue that interested me.
I just knew I wouldn’t have the time or interest to do it justice. I had tons of different ideas on what to write about, but not one idea made it past two sentences. This is not because it was an insignificant topic, but because I had absolutely no drive to pursue the story past those two sentences.
I didn’t care to write about my disgust for coffee addicts and unhealthy caffeine addictions. I also had no desire to rant about the ridiculousness of John McCain’s vice president, Sarah Palin.
I didn’t feel like following my peers’ advice to write about the poor choice of test questions on some of our past exams. I couldn’t even bring myself to argue about why I think the Democrats will win in the November presidential elections.
My indifference towards arguing any of these points probably also stems from the fact that I have a major case of writer’s block. I would look up tips on how to relieve this obstruction, but first I have to finish this assignment.