America currently faces more challenges than it has ever faced before. We’ve got to put the jobless to work, find a way to repay the debt using Uncle Sam’s credit card, make sure illegal immigrants aren’t mowing our lawns, teach polar bears how to swim and make sure the elderly can obtain all the Cialis they need. Not even “The Most Interesting Man in the World” or the guy from the Old Spice commercial could accomplish those Herculean tasks. I mean, not even Hercules could do all that.
Many, if not all, of the topics underlying these matters are likely to become defining issues for the current generation. It is reasonable to say that the failures of those who are presently in power will put an even greater pressure on those who are next in line.
The people of my generation will eventually inherit the problems of the present, and our plates will be pretty full. Like a child who refuses to eat their vegetables, we will probably be force-fed more than we can chew. If decisive actions are not taken now to solve the problems facing our society, issues will snowball until they are simply too numerous.
I, however, have lost most of my faith that the leaders of today will actually get anything done. Right now we have a Congress that, like two bickering siblings, refuses to agree on anything and is completely split along partisan lines. The divide between the rich and the poor has never been greater: average CEO pay has risen by 300 percent since 1990, while the federal minimum wage has decreased by 9.3 percent (both numbers adjusted for inflation). In fact, the USA ranks 39th in a CIA study of global income inequality. Iran is 41st.
Our Republican presidential candidates bicker like school children, stubbornly exalting their qualifications while offering little that would put America back on the right track. I was thrilled with Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan, even if it wouldn’t work and was probably taken from “SimCity 4.” The feasibility didn’t matter; I was thrilled because it was a plan. It was something, at least. Nevertheless, it appears, at least for the time being, that the current political stagnation is likely to continue.
Nowadays, I feel the same way about my government as I feel towards my beloved Carolina Panthers—I don’t expect much. I’ll take my minor victories, thank you very much.
Needless to say, I am frustrated by the politics of our society. But what can I do about it?
As the illusory experience of college nears its completion for me, I find myself less able to pass off the problems facing our society. I can no longer ignore them in favor of my exams and papers, which in my mind were much more important than some Jobs Act or debt ceiling.
The protective bubble surrounding students buffers college hedonism and allows them to be relatively undisturbed by problems going on in the world if they should so choose. At Duke, students are free to pursue their academic goals and have fun, regardless of what is happening elsewhere. Don’t get me wrong—many are activists and civically engaged, but the opportunity for apathy is still there.
However, times they are a-changing. Our bubble is being perturbed from equilibrium more and more these days. The Occupy Wall Street movement came to Durham recently and has even found support in the Duke ranks. Neither employment nor federal aid for further education is guaranteed in today’s society.
As I prepare for life after college, I begin to realize that my apathy toward events of the outside world was misguided. Life for college graduates may appear to be getting a little easier as we crawl our way out of the Great Recession, but there is a chance that the improvement in employment rates for the class of 2011 was a blip and not the beginning of a trend.
Apathy may be the greatest problem facing college students with respect to current events. It may not affect students right now, but when the time comes, students could be left wondering why their prestigious Duke degree wasn’t good enough for a full-time job or admission to a professional school, and why they did nothing about it when they had the chance.
It appears to me that the leaders of today are not getting the job done. There are never easy decisions, yet sometimes action is required even when indecision prevails. The political indecision as to the direction in which to take this country has resulted in stagnation, while problems that need solving go unchanged. College students are among the countless people affected by current political failures.
The time for Duke students to start paying attention is now. I was guilty of apathy at most points during my college experience and I regret becoming a senior before realizing that my generation cannot depend on our elders to solve the situation. We must take responsibility for our future before it is too late to change.
Milap Mehta is a Trinity senior. His column runs every other Friday.
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