Now I'm a Journalist

So I've been getting a lot of support, telling me I should consider a career in journalism. I think math is the path that I'm going to take though. But that doesn't mean I can't be a journalist on the side. Ha. The Ohio State student paper, the Lantern, had an ad the other day asking for someone willing to write for the opinion section on a regular basis. So I responded. They said they liked the essay I submitted, and it will be in tomorrow's paper. The guy I spoke with also told me he would like me to continue to submit articles for publishing "on my terms." The essay I submitted is written below. Enjoy!

Think About the Unlucky Ones

Undoubtedly you have heard it: the newest three-word phrase that has crept into daily conversation, spoken without a second thought. It is “‘F-word’ my life,” abbreviated “FML.” I am particularly disheartened by my classmates’ newest choice for an expression of frustration. I am not saying that your lives are not wearisome or that you don’t deserve a way of expressing those feelings of contempt. I am merely attempting to convince you that saying, “FML,” is perhaps not the best way of articulating your feelings. Consider what “FML” implies about those who use it. It says that their life is so difficult that they simply cannot deal with it any more. It says that they would rather cease living than go on any longer. It says that nobody understands the obstacles they must overcome.

Each time I hear this, I feel a pain in my heart. I feel that these students who fail to understand just how lucky they are. They do not or choose not to understand just how difficult some people have it. If you are one of the many who have said, “FML,” I suggest that on your next day off you take a walk through the medical center in the southwest corner of campus. Without a doubt, within your first few steps inside the hospital you will see someone whose life is more difficult than your own. They will be wearing a gown that opens in the back. They will have a look of defeat in their eyes. They will have an IV connecting their body to a bag hanging a few inches above the level of their heart. These are the people who have the right to say, “FML,” yet they rarely say word one about how difficult their lives are. This is because admitting the difficulty of their life is the first step towards giving up. They need to stay positive if they ever want to escape the prison cell that all hospital rooms are.

I speak from experience. Sixteen months ago, I had to have 95 percent of my small intestine removed. I spent a total of four weeks in the hospital and eight months on a nightly IV. I was lucky. My condition, short-gut syndrome, affects just two out of every one million people, and only a microscopic percentage of these people are ever able to stay off an IV for more than a few days. But I remember being there. I remember missing more than two months of my senior year of high school. I remember cancelling a trip to London with my best friends because I was sick. I remember fighting harder than I ever have before to get healthy enough to go away to college. I remember how my life fell apart and how I still need to fight every day to stay healthy and avoid a night in the hospital. And I remember never admitting or accepting the impossibility of what was ahead of me. I stayed positive. I overcame.

Next time life has you down, and you want to quickly utter, “FML,” consider the people in our medical center. Consider the people who fight every single day and still don’t get to have what we all have. We are students at one of the nation’s elite universities. We have it better than a lot of people. If anybody can do it, Ohio State students can stay positive in difficult situations. Keep that in mind the next time you feel discouraged. Maybe, try counting your many blessings instead of your relatively few crosses.

So there you go. Hopefully Stacey's formatting tips worked for me. If it didn't then all of the bracketed p's are supposed to be new paragraphs. Hooray for me!

-IW