I wrote the following piece months ago in an attempt to personally reflect on some issues that had been going around college campuses. I didn’t publish it for fear that it would be taken the wrong way, but as you will hopefully see when you read this- it is full of the best intentions to make positive change. I came upon this again today as I was collecting a portfolio of all my writing over the years, and I found it more relevant than ever considering the current presidential campaigns that are underway:

College. It’s supposed to be a time of breeching my comfort zone, to formulate opinions based on my knowledge at a given moment, and then reevaluate the world as I change, grow, and dramatically expand my field of knowledge.

College is the time to explore and analyze these opinions. It is the time to challenge everything that you’ve ever known. It’s the time to engage in controversial topics that don’t bolster easy solutions; it’s the time to think with analytical purpose; it’s the time to learn how to be a positive contribution to the global community. College is the unique gateway into the ‘real world’ where we, as young adults, are not only encouraged, but driven, to explore, question, and challenge the ideas and indoctrination of this world. This is the first time that ‘the next generation’ possesses the ability to start changing the world for the better. It’s the first time that we realize our potential and capability to drastically change the world.

College immediately confronts students with the complicated amalgam of both private and overt opinions: opinions that we have never considered, issues that we weren’t aware of, and ideas that we simply don’t agree with. And in most ways, this is a very amazing thing. It is the thing that should stretch us into a broader realm of understanding; it is the tangible reality that teaches us more about the world than a classroom ever could, it is this very inherent coincidental facet of the college environment that has the potential to teach us enormities about the world. However, this supposed hub of ideas often does not turn into something that we appreciate and work to synthesize for our goal of a better understanding of the world, but rather, just the opposite.

So why is it that, given this incredibly opportunity to learn and expand, at the very place that is supposed to be a melting pot of ideas that we can synthesize and foster for better understanding of our fellow peers and the world around us, the very place that can become the ignition for global change, are people unwilling to actually learn and listen? The truth is college campuses are more open to opinions than most of the adult world, but it is surprising to me, given the “world-at-our-feet” conundrum, how few people actually take the time to analyze topics such as politics, and instead, form opinions like herds of sheep. People are aggressive and assertive about their opinions because they are passionate, arrogant, unaware, angry, or all of the above.

College aside, we exist in a world where opinions of our most pressing issues diverge on a spectrum of opposing extremes and we almost always refuse to explore the other side. Maybe it’s an innate characteristic of human nature; we are defensive of our opinions, and particularly more so when dissenting ones come along to challenge those we have already formed. It is the repetition of this very instance, regarding issues of all degrees, that starts to generate the negative, hateful, divided population that we know all too well.  We lose the capacity to evaluate objectively, to compromise, to generate probable solutions to problems.

We get caught up in the righteousness of our opinions and the mechanical formulation of what empathy of other’s opinions ‘should’ look like, that we lose sight of the goal. We lose sight of coming together as a unit to foster the most cohesive, interconnected, change-driven community we can be. Nobody can do it alone, we need to do it together. And ‘together’ begins first by engaging in a better understanding, on an individual level, of the people right next to us, not by stereotyping people into what we believe the entirety of their opinion encompasses.

Don’t get me wrong- some opinions are, in fact, stupid, but when was the last time you convinced someone to change their mind through brash name-calling. Admittedly, I’m guilty of writing off people as “stupid” too. When I look at the current political election, I can’t help but thinking some people are unbelievably idiotic, foolish, and downright unintelligent for their beliefs. But being hostile about it truly doesn’t help me to discern the most important fundamental question pertaining to any opinion: WHY.

We need to start examining and addressing that sources of opinions, we need to understand why and how people come to the conclusive opinions that they do. Once we take the time to genuinely understand the rationale behind an opinion, it is here that we can begin to dissect and examine in order to foster a more understanding open-minded, cohesive population. We must not accept our opinions as concrete, but rather, regard them with a sense of malleability. We have to be willing to learn, grow, change, and most importantly, understand.