Opinion
 

Goodbye, farewell and amen

Shaun Salnave
Opinion Columnist

Iive spent a lot of time at UH. While I donit remember a great deal of it, thanks to a few stores kind enough to sell liquor to a freshman without ID, my tenure as a Cougar isnit a complete blank. Iive learned a few things here, and itis my job as a graduating senior to pass my knowledge on to you.

This is normally the prerogative of valedictorians and important persons such as heads of industries or acting directors of the U.S. Department of Homeland Securityis Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Service, but Iim lucky enough to have some pull at the Cougar, thanks to a few semesters of working here.

Now, while I havenit learned as much as I might have, itis still a little too much to fit into one column, so Iill narrow things down to what, for now at least, seems to be the most important piece of advice Iive got: Stop worrying.

You probably made some bad decisions this year, or in years past. Maybe you didnit make the change smoothly from high schoolis enforced attendance policy and missed too many classes. Maybe first-time frequent and easy access to alcohol or other substances led to some lapses in judgement. Maybe something entirely different happened, like you studied so much youire suffering early burnout.

Whatever happened -- even if, against all odds, things went perfectly -- donit worry too much about it. Donit let this yearis failures or successes dominate the rest of your college career.

You should be having fun now. Those of you unfortunate enough to have been in the real world (fruitless job searches and all) will agree with me when I say that college is about as good as it gets. Youire young -- or at least younger than youill ever be again -- and you donit have much time to waste in endless worry.

Worryis not a very useful thing, if you think about it. The worried mindset believes it can, to some extent, predict the future: If you worry enough, about the right things, nothing will ever go so wrong you canit fix it; nothing will ever surprise you.

The truth is, things will surprise you. Your best-laid plans will gang aglay. Plan your paper in advance, outline it, work on it for two weeks, finish it two days in advance -- your computer will die. Someone will steal your bag (with the paper in it) on the way to class. And thatis just a paper.

What will surprise you most, though, is how little any of it will matter to you a few years from now. The mistakes that seemed so important at the time will, with perspective, seem insignificant.

Your real regrets will be about things that all your worrying never touched on, things only time reveals to be important at all. Youill probably, if nothing else, regret worrying so much.

Salnave, a graduating English and history double major, can be reached at ssalnave@uh.edu.