Online Only: Dignitaries on your doorstep

I called my parents yesterday about 6:45 p.m. simply to say, "Guess what I'm about to go do?" \n"Play in traffic?" my dad asked. \nActually, that's not what he asked, but it would have been funnier than the usual "What?" \nI excitedly told him I was going to go see the former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak at the IU Auditorium. At this, my dad said, puzzled, "Ehud Barak? What is Ehud Barak doing at IU?" \nI told him that he was simply coming to speak to us. \nIt was one of those moments where I felt confident that my decision to attend a large research university was reaffirmed. (Though I can say with certainty that I sometimes yearn for a small, rigorous private school, particularly when I get hate e-mail from people who call me a "pseudo-intellectual" but decide that they should spell it "sudo intelectual.") \nBack to the point. I was very excited Monday night to see Mr. Barak's speech. I can safely say I disagree with 95 percent of his views, and I knew I would well ahead of time. But I went to the lecture anyway. \nFor most of us, college is probably one of the only times in our lives that we will have the opportunity to attend lectures and speeches by internationally recognized figures in politics, media and other fields. \nI regret that I haven't made much use of these opportunities in my year at IU, but I'm still pretty happy about having been able to see Ann Coulter and Ehud Barak because, quite frankly, I don't know that many people who have seen either. \nIt's amazing that you can just walk up to a ticket table 45 minutes beforehand, waltz right into the auditorium and sit 30 feet away from the former prime minister of a major international power and key regional player. \nThat's why it was so disheartening to ask my friends why they weren't going and hear responses like "I haven't worked out for, like, two weeks." Or: "I'm going to miss (insert overrated prime time TV show name here), and that's my favorite show ever. Plus (insert name of overrated, overpaid small screen actor here) is really hot." Or even: "I've got lots of homework tonight, and I want to get to bed early." \nSo what? If you throw your routine off for a couple hours, what's the worst that could happen? You'll put off your workout for 15 days instead of 14, you'll miss an episode of a show that will be out on DVD by the end of the season anyway or you'll go to bed at 2 a.m. instead of at midnight. \nHow often do international dignitaries come to your doorstep for free? \nNot too often, unless you have the misfortune of being one of the boozehound, booty-shaking Bush twins.