Thanks to the warm weather recently, Yalies have been out in droves all across campus. We’ve come out of our midterm hibernation in full force, sitting by the Women’s Table, picnicking on the lawn of Old Campus, and using those tire swings that made Yale so endearing upon our first visit. For a few days at least, we’ve taken up the time-honoured practice of “lounging.”
But even when sunshine beckons, Yale students can’t seem to shake the slinking guilt of doing anything short of writing the next great American novel or planning a presidential campaign. We wish that we could be as carefree as our doppelgangers in college brochures, with their perpetual smiles and endlessly entertaining seminars. Instead, we judge each other by the contents of our GCals. Two of my friends even expressed contempt toward the seemingly idle people basking in the outdoors.
“Don’t those people have things to do?” they demanded. “It’s annoying when you have things to do while there are people just lazing around!!”
While I tried to assure them that these people were certainly not “without a care in the world,” they proceeded to recite a long list of their commitments, neither one expressing any sympathy for the other. “Busy” is a cliché, and sleep is an elusive luxury. Even when a block of free time magically appears in your schedule, it can be difficult to find others with whom to share the freedom.
As one person expressed on yalefml.com, “I feel incredibly happy and free this semester, but I have nobody to share it with because all of my friends are too busy ‘being productive’ and ‘going to interviews’ and ‘applying for fellowships’ and ‘having a future’ and nobody will come out and play!! FML.”
With the weather slated to be 65-70 ˚F in the coming days, let’s hope that more Yalies will take up this commenter’s request.