PAULA LAVIGNE is a senior jjlllfVV 1113 flllH W^lt
news-editorial major and Daily M-*- T V*. MXliMi Tf 14^1/
Nebraskan editor-in-chief. ^
Grab your books. Get your schedule. Put gas in the car. Drive around for 20 '▼"'V . T "W •
minutes until you see that just-right parking spot. Yeah, there you go, squeeze in TT M V) A / /V O H /) n T /y /) + - j yyj
between the Buick and the pink van. Plug the meter. You have five minutes, GO! a Mw. I* IA J +*** f {/ [/(Xu U l/KA/MX/^ 1/1/f f
Stop running, you look like a freshman. But walk fast, because you can’t be late /
on the first day, even if you are a freshman. The 7 7 7 * A
traffic doesn’t stop, but risk it anyway. Go, go, f A A A A T7 /7 O TV! A / / / f
s^Sg^iz“w^fo to siop etna smell life
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Ramen for lunch. No time for dinner. Must
study. Must study. Must buy toilet paper.
You have two minutes, GO!
Your car payment is late. The
check is in the mail. No financial
aid. Call mom. No answer. Late
for work. Work, work, work.
Save money. Buy the comput
er. The computer broke. Your
friend called at noon. Too
late to call back. Read 30
pages. Sleep on a book. Up at
7 a.m. You have 30 seconds, GO!
Your friend’s birthday was yesterday.
Your mom called, again. There’s that guy.
He smiled at you yesterday. Can’t take off
work, though. The road trip left without
you. You lost your novel. It’s sunny outside.
You have a lifetime.
Wait.
Welcome to the University of Nebraska
Lincoln. Along with your degree, you will
receive a complimentary ulcer or two, a few
headaches, cold shoulders, blank stares, bro
ken hearts, worrywarts and twisted arms.
Unless, I let you in on a secret.
When you walk out of this university, you should
n’t think that all you’ve learned is academic knowledge.
Never think that this university has only given you the
skills with which to practice your trade or offer your ser
vices.
You shouldn’t think that all is well and good because you
sacrificed everything to keep a 4.0 or that you’re a member of
every honorary on campus. Not everything in your degree should
come from a textbook or a classroom, because you probably will
never go on to live in a textbook or a classroom.
True, the information you consume here is extremely valuable, but
it won’t do you any good by itself.
Think of it in computer terms. That information you’ve earned is
the memory; blocks of knowledge you can easily access. But it just sits
there unless the system works.
And the system is what turns you on. It’s what pushes your but
tons. It’s what makes the light come on inside of you. It’s that /A
continual humming noise to let the users know you’re alive.
And if it’s running on overdrive, it’s going to blow a fuse.
I speak from experience.
ouyiiumuic ycai. my h.u iiaugiug in me oaiance. ine
thought of a 3.9. Horrors! I spilled cranberry juice on my
skirt. The day was over. Test Friday. Thursday, midnight,
eating coffee and reading word by word. Someone criti
cized my story? I won’t accept it. Party on Sunday? No,
gotta work, gotta read. The message light on the answer
ing machine grew still. Even my mom gave up.
And I have all this great stuff to put on my resume.
But I didn’t have any good stories. I didn’t take any
risks. I can’t tell my friends about “that one time.”
Senior year (the second one). Good job. Good GPA.
Less coffee.
And I have stories. I made time to enjoy my youth,
my life and other people’s lives. I took advantage of
my experiences and sharing the experiences of others,
because you never know how much someone has to
offer. And I took risks, calculated risks, because excite
ment lies in the chance something might go wrong. I didn’t
slack off or give up, I just took some time to breathe and put
my life into a better context.
Today, I had to write this column. At 5 p.m., I made time to
run 3 miles. At 8 p.m., I’m not done with the column, but I feel
much better.
There are still times when there’s no way anyone could pull me from
this office or yank a notebook out of my hand. That’s when I love my job, and
it’s not a sacrifice.
From that, I’ve learned valuable lessons of honesty, integrity, leadership, will
ingness and acceptance.
There’s no Values 101 class where you can learn all that. That’s what you learn through
experience. And what better environment is there than college to have those experiences? It’s
too bad that the opportunity also falls during a time where you’re under extreme pressure to suc
ceed. But that is a lesson unto itself.
Let me sweeten the pot a bit. What you’ll learn here are values. Master leadership. Hold on to
integrity. Balance compassion. Execute fairness. Live with it and live through it. Get involved.
You’re stuck outside in your bathrobe at 3 a.m. during a fire drill. You write a term paper in three
hours. You make dinner with Ramen noodles and condiments from BK. You go on the road to crash an
away game, get lost in Oklahoma and sleep in the car.
Take advantage of the people you meet. Don’t be afraid to fall in love, because a broken heart
will learn how to discriminate. Allow people to intrigue you, and allow people to be intrigued.
I promise you failure. It’s fun. I wish you good luck. It’s better. Have faith in success.
The course work for Life 101 is to step back and take those calculated risks. Go out on a limb
and challenge yourself. In the end, it’s not what you have, but what you have done.
You have all day.
Go.
«
Not everything in your degree should
come from a textbook or a classroom,
because you probably will never go
on to live in a textbook or a
classroom
