|
 |
At least once a day the majority of students do eventually make that first step into the cold fresh air of Leeds, from the significantly less fresh, slightly moist air, found in student housing into the real world of the city. Having overcome the initial shock factor of actually being outside and facing the day, most of us will shove in a couple of earphones and set off to wherever it is we are headed. Throughout this transition, travelling period of the day most of us will try desperately to avoid the fact we are actually in the world, actually living the day, watching one foot going in front of the other, knowing that at some point we will arrive at our destination and we will probably have to talk to people. Oh life!However during this vulnerable time for us all, what is it that is filling our heads? You may well be listening to music or the conversation going on behind you, but undoubtedly you are thinking. The walk to say, campus or bus ride to the city centre is at least twenty minutes for most of us- perhaps more for those who walk at a ridiculously slow snail pace but nevertheless this is a prime example of time to have a good ponder session.
So, what do we think? Hmmm? Should you go out tonight or should you stay in and catch up on the latest of Greys Anatomy. Is this seminar really necessary? Wondering what your best mate is doing right now, at this second, like seriously right now? How your life would be so much easier if you didn’t have to leave your bed for another three days. How you are going to make a decent meal out of frozen peas, Sandwich Spread and one chocolate chip cookie and then wondering how you are going to come up with the money to buy any more food once that gourmet stuff is gone. What would it be like if you and that perfect man were married and had lots of babies? And a large farmhouse. Near the sea. And he kept his looks and miraculously maintained his perfect muscle tone to a ripe old age. And then how it could actually happen. No it really could. He’ll see me, think I can’t live without her and then…. O right what other people are thinking. Well, whatever it is, you do it. You can’t avoid it, unless you don’t have a brain, in which case you are doing seriously well reading this article.Traditionally students were the people who thought so much that they led revolutions. Martin Luther was a theology student in Germany in the sixteenth century when he first started his religious reformation. He campaigned for humanism and worked towards Methodism within Christianity. He was one of the first people to successfully challenge The Church. He thought so much he changed the world. Nowadays we still receive higher levels of education yet as students where are our life changing and world bettering thoughts and ideas. With all this time do we think enough to make a difference?
In a survey whereby me and my poor suffering housemate pulled aside students walking through Hyde Park we asked them what their last thought was as they trundled to the starts of their day. Apart from the one guy who replied that he was worrying if he could get raped walking through the park, at a civilised eleven O’ clock in the morning it is highly unlikely but nevertheless this was his response, but more often than not, the issue of the hour was that all these people were late and this was what was going across their minds. One of our many intricate observations was the difference between what men and women were thinking. Mostly the men were late and generally unhelpful in revealing their genuine thoughts. A lot of the girls, however, confessed to being concerned about how many people she thought were looking at her.
I myself will also admit that this is something that I am constantly aware of. Why are they looking at me? Do I have a massive splodge of crap on my face? Is my skirt in my pants? Am I just so offensive looking that they feel they have to stare at me for longer than is normally necessary to entirely absorb me? Do they think that my outfit is so blatantly from Primark I may as well where a big, I am cheap sign, across my head? These sorts of stable, detached, selfless thoughts are what a lot of girls fill their heads with. Fifty years ago, of course, this was not the case.
In the 1960’s student activism was at its peak. Students were so involved in political events that they were the political events. Protests, marches you name it they were thinking about it especially when it came to issues of racism and the Vietnam War. These days thought processes don’t quite work like that round here anymore. Even when University top up fees were introduced in 2006 it seemed like no one blinked an eye even though the change in the rules led to a drop of 12,000 applicants in just one year, due to the increase in debt that top up fees brought. Thinking, it appears, has become a lot less productive and a whole lot more personalised. Instead of worrying about what the world will come to when, say, when the oil runs out, we are far more concerned about what we look like and who likes us.
This, I am ashamed to say is something I am also very guilty of. However, recently (because of this article) instead of thinking about my outfit and what other people think of me as I walk along I have been trying to think about thinking. This often gets me really confused but nevertheless this is what I have been doing. The thing is, is that when you think, unless you are a) a mind reader b) that guy from Heroes, no one else can know what you are thinking. It is your only private world. This is obvious, I know I have not made a profound discovery but because of this privacy it means you are free and entitled to deal with your own world and your own selfish problems and generally be king of the world of you.
However, why do the big bad real world issues not bother us as much and why do we feel that they cannot touch our own little worlds-because we all know they can- big time. Perhaps it is because right now the average student has gone from being someone very intelligent who had to fight to be educated, to someone extremely middle class and in a position where going to university was never really at question. Nowadays at universities like Leeds it is unusual for students to want or go without. We all have loans and pubs what more do we need. It is so easy to fulfill that student stereotype of being apathetic and rock and roll and hell we do it well. So does it really matter that we tend to be apathetic to what goes on?
It sort of does matter because at some point it the not so far away future it will be our generation that will be ruling the country and changing the world. But at this point how many people do you know who are going to do just that. Who is going to be the next Nelson Mandela, John Lennon, Salman Rushdie or Bill Gates? If these people had not cared or thought about the bigger picture they never would have impacted in such a way. So next time you’re walking through Hyde Park or on the bus or just having a quick cigarette break, perhaps think about a wider perspective first, and then worry about the way you hold your cigarette and whether that guy on your left is looking at you as if you were The Incredible Hulk or something. He probably is, but embrace it and carry on thinking big.
|
November 29th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
Well that was a refreshingly honest slap round my chops. I admit that much of your piece rings some familiar bells having been a student in leeds. In fact i still find myself wandering around in a sort of fog of banality (just in a posher postcode and in clean socks). You’re bang on when you talk about complacency and a lack of involvment but it takes threats to liberty or our way of life to galvanize people into thought let alone action. In fact you’d need pepperspray to get some people out of thier bubbles and as for thier homes? Well now you’re competing with strictly come dancing and world of warcraft. You can almost hear it… ‘Shut it Kellys’ in the final despite being recently bereaved. She’s doing it for her dad and shes never looked more fabulous!’
Success and prosperity only raise expectations and this feeds back into the widening gaps between classes and wealth division. Forgive the hammy, fisher price ‘my first marxist rant’. Ok to put it better its tough to care or even think very hard when our percieved concerns are so frivilous. Why? Cos we’ve never had it so good have we? I’m sat in a double glazed apartment with 8 meg broadband, a fridge full of beer and dolby 5.1. Its hard to give a toss about a war in a country whose name i cant pronounce and whose culture looks to have more in common with george lucas than matt lucas. I hope like you say we can foster home grown ‘talent’ that can be spoken in the same breath as some of the pioneers and luminaries you mentioned. You’ve a good voice and you got me typing (and thinking) which is unusuall, keep it up