Last Friday was National Coming Out Day. Last week was Women’s Week and Week Without Violence.

But this week is just another week in the life of most Iowa State students.

However, how many students celebrated or acknowledged National Coming Out Day, Women’s Week, Week Without Violence?

Probably not many. The impact these special days usually have is very little for most students.

National Coming Out Day, for example, is a celebration day for non-heterosexual individuals.

For some, this is a day that will greatly impact the rest of their lives. It will change how they go about living everyday life.

It may change how their family and friends look at them and it will change a person’s relationships with loved ones.

But this has little, if any, impact on people for whom this day has no affect on.

For many, Friday has not changed our view of homosexuality, whether it is positive or negative. But it has made some people more aware of an issue that society remains divided over.

So now we go on with the rest of our lives and don’t think, hear or read, if we even do, about National Coming Out Day until next year.

The same can be said about any other day, week or month that recognizes issues that affect today’s society.

Even if an issue doesn’t affect us as individuals, we are made aware of it for a specific time period and then we forget about it after it is all over.

The same can be said about holidays. How many of us get real patriotic unless it’s the Fourth of July? How many of us get into the spirit of giving until Christmas?

The fact of the matter is,that days set aside to focus on certain issues don’t affect us on just specified days. They are a part of everyday life and affect each one of us on a daily basis, whether we know it or not and whether we like it or not.