Untitled 2, 2009.

I suppose there are times when one just needs to vent a little. This is one of them. I think my thought might come out a little jumbled, but they have been rolling around in my head for a while, and so they probably got out of order in the process, much like socks losing their partners in the dryer (on a complete side note, I did laundry last night and as I was putting away my socks, I only found ONE of one of my most comfy pairs (yes, mom, it's the moose socks you gave me for Christmas :) ). I got down to the bottom of the hamper, and - still only one moose sock. The thought of having lost the sock was nearly as bad as the thought to go back to the laundry room and look for it (hey, it was cold and I was tired). I picked up my sweatshirt that had been in the laundry and shook it. No sock fell out. I picked up my freshly-cleaned towel and shook it, too. No sock. I shook it again (for good measure), and... SOCK! I was very happy. So were the moose, I imagine). Ok, that was an unusually lengthy side note. Onward.

The situation at the present time is that two of my 5 roommates are likely to be kicked out of school. And while part of me feels sad for their situation (it is a strict punishment), part of me can't even try to feel sorry for them. They have been messing up all semester and have been given warnings, but ignored them. Now they are getting the consequences, and suddenly it's all "unfair". I was at home for a couple hours today and all I (over)heard was conversation about how angry they were with our Bishop (for those unfamiliar, the Bishop at school has the authority to make these types of decisions, after counseling with the Dean of Students), how they are going to "get back" at him, and how stupid the whole thing is. It was sickening.
I'm not quite sure what to do about things, and I realize that there may not be anything I can or even should do. I guess I'm just trying to deal with it and not let it bother me. But it really does. It's hard to describe all that I have been feeling about this (and other things like it) this semester, and in a way it's been a real eye-opener. I have never met people like this before (I have left a lot of things out... partly out of laziness, partly because I think that writing it all down would only make me feel angry again), and have been learning a lot. One thing I have noticed is that parents' attitudes really do rub off on children. And I am even more grateful for my parents! They are people I can be proud of, who try their best to do the right thing and to live their lives based on principles of kindness and respect. They are very selfless and care about others. I am so glad that I have been able to learn from them. I don't think my roommates have very good relationships with their parents, or their parents never bothered to teach them about respect and honesty (or, a third option, their parents did teach them all this and they were just brats about it). It's so sad.

I think one thing that just gets to me is their attitude of deserving everything without having to work for it, and not appreciating the work that others do for them. They don't understand principles of gratitude or humility. A quotation (don't ask me who said it first) comes to mind: Don't expect the world to give you everything. The world owes you nothing; it was here first. I know that I haven't always been the most grateful person, and some of the experiences that I have had over the past year or so have really gotten it into my head that nothing can be taken for granted. Every day that we have good health, we should be glad for that. Every meal we are able to have, we should be glad for that. So many people have much less. I learned an interesting statistic this semester - about 73% of our tuition is paid for by tithing of the church (meaning, the amount that I stress about having to pay every semester is only about 27% of the actual cost of my education). That is a whole lot of money being paid by people I have never even met. And I think that we owe it to the members of the church to treat our educations with respect.

Anyway, I think I have exhausted today's frustrations, and I'm doubtful of my ability to even try to add in another jumbled thought.

Plus, I should really be studying for a test right now.