Something I have observed so far in my young adult life is that it is no longer a good thing to be happy. It seems that everyone, especially college students, is only ever talking about how terrible things are going for them. Nine times out of 10, things are not nearly as bad as they claim them to be. So for those people, I have a question:

Who told you it was cool to hate everything?

The number of times I hear college students uttering statements like, "I'm going to kill myself" or "I hate my life" on a daily basis over small inconveniences is atrocious. I shouldn't even have to explain why that is such a terrible thing to do.

What do we gain from being so negative all the time? All you are doing is preventing yourself from living a truly joyful and happy life. I would rather go through life being thankful for every bit of light I can find within a storm than wasting my breath complaining about every raindrop I see.

Another thing I have come to realize from this phenomenon is that people who are actually struggling with life generally aren't the same ones who are talking about it 24/7. One of the most important lessons I've ever learned is that the people who have the hardest lives are also the ones who are the most thankful to be alive. The people who tell you they want to "end their life" and then laugh about it afterward are not the kind of people who I would consider "strong." By claiming to hate your life and joking about not wanting to live anymore when one little thing goes wrong simply makes you stand out as spoiled and inconsiderate to those who are fighting real fights and going through real struggles.

This is a trend that I feel needs to be squashed as soon as possible. I don't know why you would ever be anything but thankful to be alive and attending a good university, but there is certainly nothing cute or funny about saying you want to die. Making pessimistic statements like those that you clearly don't mean is not desirable, and don't listen to anyone who tells you that it is.