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Show THURSDAY, OCTOBER THE: DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE The Pillars of Sanity Don't Need Grief enough bare minimum that only the most anal academic could finish (and even he, I might suggest, would slip into catatonic schizophrenia upon CHRSS YEATES Chronicle Opinion Columnist It completion). Of course, being overwhelmed as is important while on the verge a his reasons were. At first, and quite thoughtlessly. I joined the bandwagon and blamed drug use. How naive of me, this half truth as if intolerance itself is not a pressure, as if the social taboo on his lifestyle did not cause as much if not more stress and despair than the evil little pills themselves. Many of us are at a point in our lives where the pressure can become unbearable, bombarding us with accusations that it is time to grow up, to do well in school, to get laid or get married. It is old counsel to stop, smell the roses, breathe and enjoy the brittle life we lead. It occurs to rne only now that perhaps it was the pressure of a practical future that gave my friend the courage to swallow the barrel of a shotgun. It is not entirely improbable that he found sanctuary in his Ecstasy, and that I, having had a ridiculous intolerance toward "wayward" lifestyles, had contributed to his isolation. I was a slice of the pressure and condemnation that had fashioned his guilt. It seems to me we should be less eager to label people's habits as evil, "or simply irresponsiwrong-heade- d ble. We may be surprised to learn that at times these vices are virtues in disguise, that to retain our sanity, we have a responsibility to be irresponsible on occasion. Because despite all the social taboos, all the raging intolerance that is so perversely contagious, it is nervous breakdown, or something not entirely dissimilar, to prioritize. Organization is the key life. to leading a healthy stress-fre- e So this Fall Break, I took into consideration the many reading assignments, exams, essays, tests, quizzes and mundane memorization that had been dispensed for Monday's due date and found myself productively chugging down steins at the local bar. Booze has a bad reputation. Despite a lifelong insistence that it will give me nothing but cirrhosis of the liver, I find that it also gives me blurry vision, difficulty reading, headaches, nausea, bad breath and a relief I can liken only to what some people might find in prayer. A friend of mine a dark horse Chris, sent me an email prior to the extended weekend that pretty much summarized the lives of quiet desper- such is not limited to vacations. It can happen at any time of the week on any particular day. Balancing what psychology calls a "social life" along with an "academic life" isn't easy. Worse yet is the relentless insinua- tion that the pursuit of our productive, successful lives is of more that importance than the side-vices make life worth living. Society has deemed anyone above the age of 18 an adult. Realizing this, I cannot help but feel a certain responsibility to grow up, and to do so quickly, and so this responsibility is the true angst behind every exam and essay I am assigned. We have graduated from high school (and thank God for that), but the promise that our growth would non-negotia- Society has deemed anyone above the age of 18 an adult. ation that most men lead. "Tell me something," it read. "How come the more vacation time we get in school, the more homework the professors assign? I don't mean proportionately so either. I got slaughtered this weekend and there is no way in hell I will be able to finish it Realizing this. cannot help but feel a certain 1 nonnegotiable responsibility to grow up, and to all Is it this sort of helplessness that persuades the "Just Say No" generation to Just Say Yes? I haven't a clue. And, in all due fairness with my professors, they were for the most part extremely considerate. , Each ofithem was frugal enough to assign an amount of homework that could not quite be classified as exhaustive but could easily be con- -, strued as the bare minimum. And as each professor applied this same limited generosity, at the end of the week, I had been supplied with important to remember that people find solace in many things. While some need to be saved from those infamous raves, others may be saved by them. Alcohol is a poison that mankind has used for hundreds of do so quickly. years to unwind. be finished, that our adolescent confusion would be lifted when we set our hands upon that revered and studiploma is a lie. pid We are not adults not all of us. Many of us find our futures uncertain, our dreams obscure and the corporate ladder a disgusting and vile boil on the ass of mankind. Awhile back, a good friend of mine killed himself, and there was. of course, much speculation as to what binge-drinki- high-scho- ol 1 . I'm not suggesting that the best way to deal with life is to become a bastard or a stoned-col- d solaces are vital but hippie, Whatever they may be, wherever people find them, from bowling to backrubs to booze, as a society, we need to respect something more than our dogmatic ideals and that is the peace of mind of our fellow human ' : ng beings. . . 'Guaranteed A-MsMoWe-M - f ! muft ccmesf, 1 arc .24 yesss ' old. it senior in college, and s, I sci4sh pyjapkins. I only hope this article caa justify rny existence to Emily Fuller, an opinion columnist or The Daily Utah Chronicle, I grew up in the Iteart of suburbia, a northwest suburb of Chicago. Some of my fondest adolescent memories were cn Halloween, running triumphantly with a pumpkin above rcy head, trying to gain enough momentum to launch it onto the street And oh, what a beautiful sound , when it explodes in a brilliant display of juvenile delinquency. L can't decide what environmental factors led to my unspeakable behavior Maybe it was a prouuet of my violent video Faroes, ov saost likely it was my hevy. mstai and rap music. Or maybe my parents didn't rals? me ceirectiy; t Actually, it wasn't my parents' fault, but the inspiration, to deviate came from listening to my Emmem albutn, since that type of music is pcovert to lead to the downfall of my generation. In contract to the previous envuonmentil factors that iead people to the dark side of smashr ing pumpkins, It might be able to ' fee explained from an anthropological standpoint As a society In general, ws have no" established rights of passage into adulthoodI can remember smashing pumpkins my freshmen ' yer with a bunch of seniors. So maybe this iyp of malicious 'actMty can help eytabUsh'imy - call my vigUanitf fioup tj!ii' year and I will yell uds name' with tae fury of Biaveheatt as I, am this year's crop 'of, Jack-O-Lanter- Smashing puinpkins is as much a part of Halloween as are cheap costumes, and candy by the pound 'These are not criminals but: rather, kids having fas, and maybe some old people will be put out by cleaning up their pumpkins, but this is hardly an atrocious crime against society. Look at today's real issues; it must be true that the act cf kids - . And oh, what a beautiful sound whan it explodes in a : . - S 12,2000 brilliant display of Juvenile delinquency. smashing pumpkins rates up there material that the NC-1- 7 headlines our local news. "Have you ever defaced or smashed pumpkins?" I'm lucky employers don't ask this type of. question on a job application right after that "Have you ever been convicted of a felony" category. Was I really that bad of a perso'n? Maybe instead I should have . participated in activities such as doing drugs, burglarizing homes or assaulting some kids that did nothing but look a me wrong. Let's be reaL Eniily, haven't you ever done anything a little naughty? Have you fiver stubbed Yqvx ; netk7is- - of jpopk - who your toe and shouted out some' . tiling other than darn? 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