Dear Adults:
Hey. We know you're really busy "changing the world" from your cubicle, but we promise this will only take a minute. On behalf of us college kids, we just have a few quick words for you.We know what you think of us, okay? We're college kids for goodness sake, we know all about making judgments. We spend most of our days cleaning the cobwebs out of our wallets and deciding that it is totally acceptable to wear last night's party makeup to the library. We're a part of a culture that younger kids want to be a part of and you adults like to look down upon.
We hope we don't peak now, but we know these are going to be the best years of our lives. So naturally, we live it up. But can you blame us? We are caught in the middle of stress-induced hair loss and jungle juice-induced memories ... or lack there of. We are just trying to make the best out of these four year of freedom, which you all say goes by so fast.
So all we ask is that you give us a chance, let us catch a break. We're trying. We are trying to manage our hefty schedules and demanding social lives while we are allowed to have one. We are told that we need to be looking toward our future, but not too far, because we need to live in the moment.
We're told we need to be adults, yet we need to know our place in society: immature college students who are wasting their lives away on the state's dime. We are told we need experience in the workplace, yet no one will hire us because we are inexperienced. Please, us know how we are supposed to gain this experience in the first place.
There's a lot of pressure on us. You all should know that, you were in our shoes at one point too. The decisions we make now, at the mere dawn of our adult careers, will be carried with us for the rest of our gown lives. Now that's a lot for us to be carrying on our shoulders.
So please excuse us if we go out too often, love too much, and live too recklessly. We are trying to make the best out of the time we have. Please excuse us if we don't know exactly what we want to do with our lives, because believe me, we are trying our hardest to figure it out.
Stop telling us that we won't be prepared for the real world. We will be. Right now our real world is filled with red cups and overpriced textbooks. We like it that way. (Minus the overpriced textbooks). We will learn how to handle life's challenges and be thankful for life's blessings, just as you did. It's just that for some of us, it might take a little longer. All we ask is for your patience, support and guidance. We are trying to figure out how to "adult," so please stand by us, not against us.
And so ... let us college students of the world raise our red Solo cups in the air and celebrate all we have done and yet to do. Our world is big and our future is bright. Don't try to dim our flame.
