IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES, IT WAS THE WORST OF TIMES
By Eleni Kostopoulos, Copy Editor

SUNY The New Paltz Oracle, USA
April 6 2006

We are the generation of MySpace, iPods and camera phones. We don’t
write letters-we e-mail. We don’t call-we text message. Why walk into
a crowded mall when you can just buy it on eBay? In an effort to beat
its international competitors, it’s evident that our nation is driven
by technological advancement, and at this rate, our offspring will
be probably be taking online physical education classes.

In retrospect, it’s slightly unfortunate that we love to distract
ourselves from reality by means of electronic devices, using the
excuse of convenience or mere entertainment. But, while we take two
steps forward in such advancement, we seem to be regressing in many
other areas of society, and distractions are more convenient than ever.

South Dakota recently passed a constricting anti-abortion act,
an event that shattered the battles that so many women in our
history have fought and suffered for. Our current national debt
is $8,380,174,381,070.26 and will have risen by millions more in a
matter of 24 hours (if you live in this country, then that’s YOUR
money). There is a brutal genocide in Darfur, comparable to Armenia,
the Holocaust and Rwanda, and our intervention has been minimal.

The list of the problems our nation is facing is evidently endless.

Why are we letting history repeat itself? Why aren’t we learning
from our mistakes? Why are we spending more and more time browsing
the Web than caring about what is going on in the world?

Truth be told, I would much rather check that pending friend request
than spend a minute worrying about the horrid state this country is
in and how much of an ass President Bush is. But once in a while,
reality hits you. It’s not only about the country’s future-it’s about
your future and your children’s future. Sometimes, all it takes is
paying attention to what’s going on to at least build a foundation
toward making a change. So hit pause on the iPod, and pick up a
newspaper (unless you like to read and listen to music at the same
time, like myself). If you’re going to be online, forward an e-mail
to your friends about something going on that they would never make
an effort to read about. Overall, take a little time out to simply
pay attention–and then you can finish temporarily escaping it all
with your favorite guilty pleasure.

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