Brian Dillon Column:
Love keeps people from
their friends
At the supermarket the other day, the aisles were
decorated with pink hearts everywhere. You know what that means: Valentine's
day is quickly approaching.
It’s a day dedicated to honoring that special
someone in your life.
Or, if you're lonely like me, it's a day of being
jealous of everyone who has that special someone in his or her life.
Here at college, I've noticed that relationships
are a lot different than back in the days of high school. There are
no parents or long drives getting in the way of two people who think
the other is greater than sliced bread.
Everyone here lives within five minutes of each
other and there are no curfews or people waiting for you to come home.
This leads to something that is a big issue on college campuses: being
whipped.
Yes, whipped. Don't deny it, if you have a boyfriend/girlfriend
and hang out with them ten times as much as anybody else, then face
the music — you're whipped.
In your years at Purdue, most likely you will have
a roommate that is whipped. You know what that means: you have just
acquired an extra roommate, whether you like it or not. They will sleep
over in your apartment a couple of times a week. They will eat your
food. They might even start getting calls there.
"No Mary is not here. And she doesn't live here
either."
Now I try to avoid knocking on what I haven't experienced,
but I admit I'm making a big exception here. I haven't experienced love
yet, but if I become whipped when I do, you can crucify me as a hypocrite.
I've learned from past mistakes. Mere crushes on
girls have made me focus 99% of my daily thought processes towards them,
and it leads to losing track of everything else that's more important.
You know why being whipped is such crap?
Because friendship endures way past puppy love.
That's right, a group of close friends is like
your family away from home. Relationships come and go, but good friends
are always there, so make them your top priority.
You've probably heard the saying "Bros before ----
(a garden tool that rhymes with Bro). But I often see people who don’t
live by this. Instead of a night out with the boys, some guys repeatedly
opt for a quiet night watching some Julia Roberts movie with their girlfriend.
Much of their free time is concentrated on that
one person, instead of focusing at least some of the time with friends
or making new ones.
Seriously, don't people ever get bored of each
other? There's only so much you can care to know about someone. There
are only so many hours you can spend together before you get tired of
seeing them.
When you have hour-long conversations about the
different kinds of cheese, you are spending too much time with that
person.
Don't agree that being whipped is detrimental?
Well let me ask you this.
What happens when you break up?
All of a sudden you've got a lot of free time.
Who are you gonna hang out with now? You haven't seen much of your friends
lately, and you haven't had a chance to make new ones. So Saturday night
ends up being spent in front of the tube watching "The Crocodile Hunter."
And your friends' impression of you changes when
you become whipped. When a friend knows that you'd rather spend the
whole weekend with your significant other, and not even a couple hours
with her, she starts to feel less of you. She'll stop caring about you,
and she'll stop inviting you places because she assumes you'll be with
your boyfriend instead.
Don't get lost in the land of the whip. Focus just
as much time toward your family and friends, and I promise you, you'll
be a lot happier. You'll live a more well-rounded life and when you
break up, you won't be screwed socially.
Life was made to gain as many friends as possible,
not to focus everything on one person.
By no means is this an anti-relationship column.
Treat your girlfriend like a queen, but there's a time and a place.
And that time isn't every waking hour.
Till next time guys.
Brian Dillon is a junior in the School of Technology.
|
