Editorial: Never Be Satisfied with the Status Quo

After my commentary about President Williams a few issues back, I got a great deal of feedback. Most was positive, some was negative, but predominantly I received one overall response: shock or awe of my bravery for saying what I said. Those kind of shocked responses caused a fear within me that I never thought I’d experience while living in this country.

I don’t see what I did as “brave” or “fearless” because I don’t think anyone should be afraid to utilize their right to free speech. No hostages were taken over what I said. The president didn’t attempt to shut down {The Exponent}. I just wrote a couple of words on a piece of paper that, by their very nature as opinion, were neither right nor wrong, but my right according to the first amendment.

So when people start saying someone who simply puts forth an opinion is “brave,” it make me think we need to start being afraid of more than just getting into some kind of trouble with the establishment. We need to be afraid of losing ourselves, losing our freedoms, and eventually giving up the right to say anything at all.

I don’t think any of us could say we go through a normal day and agree, wholeheartedly, with everything that we encounter. Eventually, if the problem is serious enough, those spots of bitter dissatisfaction should move you to speak up, to attempt to change the system. If you don’t, you just continue to be afraid of voicing your opinion and will abdicate your right to choose our future. You’re giving it instead to those in power who will use it to promote their idea of “our” future. Is that what you really want, a future where other people making decisions for you, without your input? Where you live in fear of changes that aren’t something you wanted?

More of us need to be opinionated because that can lead to bigger and better things. Even if your opinions are small, they deserve a voice, and can bring about change. It might not be a huge change. Sometimes the best changes are the kinds you don’t really see: the ones where your opinion causes another person to think, to take a moment and really grasp what it is you see from your side of the argument. Sometimes people’s opinions have led to changing that have benefited all mankind. But I’m not asking you to change the world. I’m just asking you to speak up.

You don’t even have to say much. You could just donate your time to a cause you feel moved by, or join a club on campus. You could start a letter writing campaign to the state government about our waning educational budget. You could bring up a subject you know is controversial and use it to educate yourself and others rather than seeking to “win” the argument. These are just a few ways to get people thinking on what you have to say and enact change. There are so many more.

I don’t want my opinion to be the only one because I was “brave” enough to speak out. I want to be one in a tremendous chorus, all of us out there trying to remake the world into something better. I want to be drowned out with differing opinions that make me think. I want us all to be brave, for the sake of our cumulative futures, so that maybe what you want can be incorporated into this hodge podge of changes taking place. Take part, speak up. Your opinions matter just as much as mine, and should never be silenced out of fear. They are you right, sitting there in that first amendment in our constitution, and you cannot be arrested, punished or kicked out of school for exercising that it.