We're All in This Together

This week’s column was originally going to be about why women are still repressed in some ways and what we as Columbia students can do about it. But then, that would divide us, at a time when many, myself included, are still astounded at the ways in which Americans recently united. Women all over the world do have a ways to go, and I’m not going to stop being a feminist until there is universal gender equality. But I am going to quiet down about it, for now.

The elation we felt on Nov. 4 has diminished, popping up at random moments when we realize just what this country—this generation—accomplished that day. When I’ve felt stressed, I remember the collective scream in Sulz Parlor as we saw a television image we never expected to see. I think of the crowd of us on Broadway in front of Lerner, of the people—black and white and, for all we cared that night, polka-dotted—dancing on 125th Street to impromptu choruses chanting Obama’s name and “Yes we can.” I think of how, that night, we felt not only hopeful but unified. We’ll remember those feelings for years, describing them to our grandchildren in times that may be more or less desperate than these.

In his victory speech, President-elect Barack Obama called unyielding hope “the true genius of America.” That’s funny, because our generation has been called apathetic while we Columbia students routinely call ourselves cynical or pessimistic or jaded. But that night, we were optimistic, happier perhaps than we have been in a very long time. Obama told us on Nov. 4 that we have a lot left to do. And while I’m hopeful, I’m also cautious because I want to know for sure—will we do it?

Yes we can. We’ve proven that already: through the activism of the Columbia Democrats who canvassed in crucial Virginia counties, through last year’s hunger strike where students wouldn’t back down, through the undergrads volunteering at soup kitchens and the recent graduates working for Teach for America when they could be making significantly more money elsewhere. There are the students here who will spend spring break volunteering in Latin America, those who work part-time to help their families, those who will one day be world-changing politicians like their fellow Columbian, the President-to-be.

We can’t stop now. There’s always going to be something to improve, be it a major issue like getting global warming under control or a relatively minor one like ensuring that everybody around the world has access to a computer and the Internet. And we shouldn’t let this reality daunt us—not at all. Instead, we should be motivated. We, Columbia students, are among the most privileged and capable people in the United States, in the world. Many of us are activists, and probably every one of us has protested or will protest something before we graduate. We’re devoted, hard-working and ambitious. Those qualities got us here, and those qualities are going to help us change the world in ways both large and small.

The election has inspired many of us to reconsider our career paths to involve social service, and when we’re feeling jaded or uninspired or consumerist, we need to remember those feelings, that inspiration we gained from proving that we can, in fact, incite change. Sometimes I worry that our culture is going to descend even further into consumerism—some days it feels as though more people care about their iPhones than about the welfare of people living in our neighborhood or dorm. We’re young and privileged and smart, and we have our moments of utter inconsideration for others—we’ll throw paper towels all over the bathroom floor for facilities to clean up, or won’t say “thank you” when someone holds the door for us, or think of the homeless guy in front of Morton Williams as an aesthetic annoyance.

But then again, we’re young and privileged and smart. There’s so much to do. And so much we can do, if we continue to push ourselves just a little. In most of my columns I argue that we need to be kinder to ourselves by not pulling all-nighters or taking too many classes or over-exercising, but I’d like to add here that we must also be kinder to each other—to the people who clean our classrooms, to the world, to our future. If we live just a little more carefully, the future will be more luminous than we can imagine. We may have to make more drastic sacrifices than we did during the campaign, but it will be for the better. We’ve proven that we’re a motivated generation, one that experiences enormous opportunities and enormous challenges, and we may have to choose between enjoying the former or actively dealing with the latter. We think of our futures, worrying that if we don’t pass that test we won’t get into the graduate program of our choice, but there’s a more important future we should be concerned about: the world’s.

We’ve done a lot of work already. Let’s keep going.

Marissa Mazek is a Barnard College junior majoring in English. The Rough Truth runs alternate Mondays. Opinion@columbiaspectator.com