Commentary about 4/20

As thousands congregate for the annual idolization of a weed quite unlike any other, I’m respectfully declining the cheeto stained invitation. With so many just causes worth fighting for, why can’t this campus fight for something that actually matters? Why can’t we get over ten thousand students to show up for a hunger drive, cure cancer charity event or perhaps most importantly, a political overhaul rebellion? As our politicians continue to quarrel like five-year-olds in a political playpen over the future of our country, thousands are wasting their time trying to legalize a drug almost completely worthless to society.

To be honest, I couldn’t care less if you personally enjoy smoking weed. What’s most frustrating is when the Boulder burners try to spin 4/20 into some sort of rally for marijuana rights instead of calling it what it is; another excuse to get high. Our economy is in the tanks. The jobless rate through the roof. Our troops are fighting a seemingly endless war in countries half-way around the world, and the planet is suffocating due to the global climate change we’ve created. Which one of these is bringing possibly 15 thousand to Norlin Quad today...? Legalizing... marijuana? Really guys? So what if you don’t have a job out of college, right? At least you’ll be able to smoke weed while sitting in your parents’ basement. Come on.

Instead of using pot as some sort of misguided coping device for your lame problems, suck it up and figure it out. There’s a real world out there that needs our help and if we can’t do what it takes to make a positive difference, then maybe we really are no better than our stoner reputation. Just because they call it higher education, doesn’t mean you actually have to be high during it. A word of wisdom from me to you. It’s a very simple idea and Shel Silverstein wrote it best, “The perfect high isn’t in a dealers stash or on a druggists shelf, Son, if you would find the perfect high, find it in yourself.”