I have never taken myself too seriously since I came into this world. Since I’ve been here, I’ve grown up around issues, and I’ve grown up with people. With recent exposure to such distressing facts as the plight of the environment, alienation from one another and emotionally gratifying consumerism, I’d have to say it’s a pretty depressing world we live in.

The more I find when I read, the more I anticipate my last breath. Eccentric optimists who find love and joy in this day seem to be dismissed as crazy.

I’ve assumed that collaboration instead of competition is what is needed for utopia. I don’t mean to sound preachy about this, but in atmospheres such as college, competition for the grade is what fuels people’s ambitions.

It’s hard for me to be canceled out by people such as this who get up, eat breakfast, go to their classes, study diligently — people who basically live their lives like a robotic time-clock, with no area for spontaneous initiative.

It seems every dorm room in the university residence halls is equipped with a television and on-line computer adapter. I see people typing instead of talking, watching instead of reading, having knowledge filtered through networks with no genuine experience of their own.

I’m sure they have their pompon squads constituted by parents, educator and society that what they are doing will lead to the good paying job that can support a house in the suburbs with a white picket fence and 2.5 kids. But is that really more important than stumbling blindly through life, disregarding the issues in our world today?

I’ve found that those who think they can change the world will change the world. One day, one person, one thing at a time.

Maybe I don’t know what I am talking about. In the eyes of some people, I probably don’t live a very evaluative lifestyle by living in Ames, Iowa, the center of cultural diversity. But I do know this is an anxious time we’re living in.

It seems like everything —ÿMiddle East peace talks, Madison Avenue, abortions, deforestation, Ticketmaster, William Burroughs, Princess Diana, organic farming, McDonald’s, car emissions and the blue sky are all crashing down upon one another equating a dystopia.

What will happen? Do you know?

Gary Ryan Johnston

Senior

Landscape Architecture