Collegiate Times

The most magnificent pearls of wisdom that I carry were bequeathed to me by my dearly departed Grandpa Stickles. ?But your last name?s Washburn.? Well knucklehead, my mom had a dad too, does that clear things up? Grandpa Stickles was a man who lived by a few principles that still apply in a world where the cellular phone has replaced meeting your buddies at the Sock Hop, to talk about that girl in your class that?s freaking amazing. ?Always do your own thinking,? Grandpa would say. Do you know how many times I hear about people around campus who just go along with what everyone else thinks, without taking the time to make up their own minds? It?s pathetic! There?s a line from one of those Matrix movies from awhile back, where the old lady tells Laurence Fishburne ?I expect you to do what you?ve always done ? to make up your own damn mind.? For the sake of realizing that groupthink begets folly, listen to what other people have to say, but really take the time to find out how you feel ? about anything! ?Always make your own decisions.? If I had let somebody else make every decision that counted in my life, I?d probably be going to an uptight private school in New Hampshire ? and let me tell you New Hampshire isn?t fun. It?s boring, colder than New York and is good enough for pretty much a pit stop on your way to the coast of Maine. When it?s clutch time, you make the call. Don?t you dare let someone else make your decisions for you ? they aren?t you, and no matter what?s been said, you are the only one who knows you best. The more I think about it, the more I?ve come to the conclusion that Grandpa was secretly penning the rough draft of Chicken Soup for the University Student?s Soul. If he had ever gotten the chance to actually read some of my material, I?m sure he?d be proud to look me in the eye, furl his eyebrows, and adjust his glasses before clearing his throat, to say in whimsical fashion ?You know Christopher, this is pretty good, but you?re too serious ? You should never take yourself too seriously.?