A fond farewell

I’ve never been very good at saying goodbye, so it’s with a heavy heart that I write my final column for the Indiana Daily Student.

I refuse to make this a self-congratulatory space or an outlet for cheesy farewells to my wonderful editors and the friends I’ve made while working for the paper. Rather, I’d like to share a story that may better illustrate the thrust of my ideological underpinnings.

I’ve made no secret about the fact that I’ve been a recovering conservative for three years now. I shudder to think of the days when I called Ayn Rand and Milton Friedman my intellectual heroes, but I blame it on the foolishness of my youth.

While I was still impressionable, I read a book by John Rawls titled “A Theory of Justice,” and to say that it changed my life is an understatement. After finishing the often-complicated text, I realized two things.

One: Conservatism had deluded me into accepting the very worst of humanity as not simply an outlier but the very apotheosis of our existence. This led me to my second realization: I was mistakenly embracing an ideology that rejected the notion of human dignity and compassion as the source of our progress.

As I mulled over these ideas, I witnessed the manifestation of these ruminations, beginning with Hurricane Katrina and the governmental response to it. The conservative principles of self-reliance and callousness were on wondrous display then, and in the months following that disaster, I no longer identified with the movement.

There is a point to this long and somewhat dramatic story, and it is this: While it is good to be principled and take a stand, it is just as important to allow room to change one’s mind. This ability to challenge and confront one’s existing world view, in essence, is the role of the opinion writer.

Owing to plentiful negative feedback I have received from detractors, I can only assume that I achieved this goal.

Sadly, pushing and prodding one’s various intellectual faculties remains a task that is highly unattractive. Particularly as college students, we are content with accepting the knowledge handed down to us.

Such adherence to authority is the antithesis of a liberal arts education, and yet we derive little satisfaction from curiosity. Going against the status quo has always been the hallmark of liberalism, and it is perhaps no coincidence that many opinion columnists are left-leaning.

Most importantly, in my time as an opinion writer, I’ve understood that as a highly biased consumer of news, I was often charged with acting as a gatekeeper for ideas.

Sometimes I succeeded, and often I failed. But what I learned was that the ability to ask questions and challenge students saved me and countless others from a future of ignorance.

I would hope that this sense of open-mindedness fostered by the opinion page continues to flourish long after the departure of graduating columnists. More than anything, dear readers, please don’t stop thinking – it might help you see the light as well.