We have finally arrived at Dead Week. The eternal summer that carried us through those normally freezing days has brought us to a decent end.

While I will not be one of the lucky few that manages to escape in four years, I would say that this year has been one that taught me a lot. Not graduating this year is actually a good thing, however. The anxiety set in early, thinking that soon my end at Iowa State would be here, but I had my fears put to rest by my adviser.

I find myself lucky to have dodged entering the real world for another year, and at the same time I realized something. Here at Iowa State is one of our last chances to really meet new people that we can relate to.

When we go out and get jobs we will have co-workers, but chances are a lot of them will be older than us, with different lives. That’s not to say we can’t get along with our co-workers, but college provides us with one last opportunity to meet a variety of people that we can openly talk to and relate with because we want to.

Too often, people on campus, and in colleges across the nation, get a little too caught up in their activism for one cause or another, and spend so much time trying to change minds about utterly ridiculous things that you have to wonder how they are going to function in society.

Growing up on a diet of G.I. Joe, Smurfs and Thundercats we have come to an “us vs. them” mentality. Rarely did we ever see any divisiveness in any groups of good guys and if a single character did they became trapped by their arch-enemy, showing it was best to stick with the ideas of the group.

Think about how many people you know today that you get a chance to disagree with. It is quite possible to disagree on a number of subjects and still be friends, and it seems like we have really lost that. Now more than ever the idea has been reinforced that we have to be together or not at all.

As a Daily columnist I’ve had my fair share of disagreements with people – but that’s not to say I can’t get along with any of these people, just the ones that can’t let something go.

No matter how long you have been here: only one semester or five or more years, everyone has had good and bad experiences with the people they meet. Sometimes friends that have been together for a long time hit a bad spot when they come to school.

Maybe even new friendships made at the beginning of the year break up for any number of reasons, such as liking the same guy, or girl, or just a big misunderstanding.

It’s time that we try and get past those things. This is our time to make connections. Not just business connections and contacts for the future, but real personal connections to people from all walks of life and ideals. To find people that you can keep in contact with for a long time to come, and even though you may disagree with them, they will always be there to offer advice or a shoulder when you need it.

Sometimes we feel as though it’s really hard to let a grudge go because we feel as though we have been wronged by someone in such a way that we must dislike this person.

One thing I think we should all try and do during Dead Week is to revive some friendships, even if it calls for us to swallow our pride.

Blaine Moyle is a senior in English from Des Moines.