Welcome change this new
semester
Richard Whitrock
Welcome back to another semester at UH.
Welcome back to no parking, overpriced books, long lines for food, overpriced
food, people on cell
phones, miserably dense traffic, huge
classes, construction in the middle of campus and rude drivers, passengers
and pedestrians. Welcome
back to campus bookstore employees who
work for evil conglomerates just out to take money from poor college students,
who never buy books
back unless it's for pennies on the dollar
and then sell them for 50 times their worth -- a little slice of home.
It's comforting to know some things will
always be waiting, even things that shouldn't exist except in the seventh
circle of hell. Today will be just
like yesterday, which will be just like
tomorrow. There is a certain level of comfort found there, in familiarity.
Unfortunately, as any astrophysics professor
will tell you, the universe is not static. Things will always change, and
nothing stays the same. The
Cubs might one day win the World Series,
UH may win a football game and someday baseball and football might no longer
exist.
Some out there will cheer for these changes;
some will rebel against them. Make no mistake -- the world tomorrow will
never exist again.
2001 saw many changes, as small as getting
just one year older and as big as the tallest towers toppling while the
world watched in shock. It
saw the birth of a new war, and the slow,
barely noticeable death of an older way of life.
As the world drives to the gas station
in airbag-enabled vehicles while speaking on cell phones to business contacts
and relatives, paying for
the gas without ever speaking to another
living being, few people realize just how different life was even 10 years
ago.
Life today is radically different than
it was even one year ago, but nobody notices the changes. The world of
today will die a piece at a time,
replaced at every step with tomorrow's.
Most people take these changes in stride, rolling with the evolution of
the world created by man.
Shouldn't there be something more to it?
We have seen the dawn of a new age, and
with every rising sun we have the opportunity to shape this world, to make
a small change that can
alter the course of tomorrow.
Today there is a war in Afghanistan. There
are people all over America suffering from the collapses of the World Trade
Center and Enron.
There are people here still suffering
from Tropical Storm Allison, a homeless man on the corner begging for charity
or a drink, and 30,000-plus
college students starting a new semester,
getting ready to change all of it.
Maybe we can't stop the war, give everyone
new jobs, fix the University Center Satellite, solve alcoholism and unemployment
and ace all our
classes tomorrow, but we are the ones
who will shape this nation and this world a little bit at a time.
We students should welcome this challenge,
this charge, and rise to the occasion. We should realize that the choices
we make today can
change this world to fit our visions of
the future, or we can choose to let others realize their visions.
What do you want the world to look like?
The universe is not static. Everything changes. Nothing stays the same.
What are you changing?
What are we going to change today so that
tomorrow is even brighter?
