There used to be protests. There used to be causes to stand for. There was passion – a passion to stand for something you believed in.

There was energy . an overwhelming energy to do something, to be something, to stand up and yell and fight.

I’m describing generations past, not my own, and I have to wonder what happened to that energy and passion and desire to be a part of a cause. Going to class four days in a row is considered an accomplishment among my peers. Changing the world isn’t a task found on many students’ to do lists anymore.

So many students are willing to sit idly by and let the world crumble around them.

What I applaud is the handful of students who see a cause, truly believe in it and can take immediate and effective action to make an impact.

Do not let the world fall apart and not let your voice be heard solely because you don’t think you have time to be a part of something.

We are young. We are able. We have nothing but time. Yet so many are content not being active even on their own campus, where even the smallest project can make a world of difference to our 27,000 classmates.

To get the college experience, it’s necessary to actually experience things. College offers so much more than what we can get out of sitting in lecture halls. Your daily routine should not read like a shampoo bottle: 1. Go to class. 2. Sleep in class. 3. Bitch about class. 4. Repeat.

There’s a world out there and if you’re not going to be active in it or informed of it, you have no right to complain or be frightened when a large part bursts into flames and disappears forever.

You have the potential to be the president of our student body, the editor of the student newspaper, the leader of organizations such as the FMLA or the LGBTAA. But nobody’s going to show up at your door, massively impressed by your ability to be in your dorm room all hours of the day, and request that you be the next leader of Big important Organization.

Sitting around complaining about how stressed you are because this week you had to go to four classes and one meeting just isn’t an impressive use of your time. Nobody that really is active on this campus wants to listen to other students bitch about their “hectic” schedule of 10 credits and 6 hours of television viewing each night. It just doesn’t inspire sympathy.

The textbooks are not going to gloss over this part of American history, and neither should we.

This is the ultimate sign that it is time for us to take action – maybe not even in any endeavor related to the attacks on our country. But do something, anything, to seize your freedom. Do something with your life before it is too late, and appreciate that you are able to have such opportunities at your fingertips.

Don’t let college turn into “that time I drank a lot.” Chances are, if that’ s all you’ve got going for you now, that’s all you’ll have going on when you’re 35. And there’s nothing cool about a 35-year-old bragging to sorority girls about how he can still chug a forty. Although we all gasp in delight when we hear about how many beers you chugged last Tuesday, bragging about doing keg stands isn’t going to earn you points in many job interviews.

Maybe it’s not really a time for peace. Maybe it’s a time for action. But it’s definitely not a time for apathy.

People trash our generation as a bunch of snot-nosed, lazy, apathetic fools. Our response? We don’t care what people say about us. And that’s part of the problem.

We should care about our reputation. We should care about the world and should be making every effort to change it for the better, on any scale. Don’t go blindly through this time of our history.

Care. At a time like this, you cannot afford not to.

Cavan Reagan is a junior in journalism and mass communication and English from Bellevue, Nebraska. He is the research assistant for the Daily.