bitter melodies turning your orbit around

"Now once more the belt is tight and we summon the proper expression of horror as we look back at our wasted youth. Sometimes, though, there is a ghostly rumble among the drums, an asthmatic whisper in the trombones that swings me back into the early twenties when we drank wood alcohol and every day in every way grew better and better, and there was a first abortive shortening of the skirts, and girls all looked alike in sweater dresses, and people you didn't want to know said 'Yes, we have no bananas,' and it seemed only a question of a few years before the older people would step aside and let the world be run by those who saw things as they were - and it all seems rosy and romantic to us who were young then, because we will never feel quite so intensely about our surroundings any more." - F. Scott Fitzgerald

A heavy weight hangs over the heads of almost every student at Macalester - and I'm upset, and you're upset, and when I ask how you're doing, I know it's not going to be good. I know that. It's implied. So I can't shrug anymore and say, 'you know, bad.' I have to say, 'I'm sad, but life is still sweet.' Lots of people I know have decided to give up. They have convinced themselves that this is the end of the United States as we know it - that this is the worst time ever - that we will never ever heal. But it's a cycle - we've been in worse situations before - our generation has just never lived through something like this and been aware of all the actions and consequences.

And while I agree that it is hard to be optimistic, it is hard to pretend to be able to take action right away, but don't hate on the ones who are swearing up a storm. They have a right to do it - you do too. Be upset, let it all out, but realize, that the sun is out and that you are living. To a certain extent, you who say, 'What can we do now? How can we unite the country?' are trying to talk yourselves into that positive riff. Because you know your heart feels as heavy as mine - because if mine feels heavy, then anybody who has ever given a thought to politics and the welfare of our country also has a heavy heart.

So the sun is out and you just got back from Chicago. Or you just finished seeing your family and you've had experiences that will become a marker in your life. Don't lose sight of that because it is so so important to conentrate on your life at a personal level - because you just need to love. Because the Beatles said it best, 'All you need is love.'