Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

InstantReplay wishes a festive season to all its readers! I'll be leaving for the la isla bella Puerto Rico tomorrow at 6 a.m. Not the greatest time to be at Logan Airport, but considering that the Caribbean is the destination, I'm not complaining! We'll spend a week in the warmth and sun, and my sister and I will return via New Attitude, a Christian singles conference in Louisville, Kentucky, which is not "bella" in anybody's dictionary.

Red Sox Rockin' Round the Calendar

And around the Christmas tree. The Sox unwrapped a nice Christmas player with second baseman Pokey Reese, who turned down bigger contracts elsewhere to come to the Sox. After seven years in Cincinatti and Pittsburgh, the Poke wants to be part of the greatest show on earth: the Boston Red Sox. That's more of what we need: athletic guys who are excited to play ball and are earning almost half their salary in performance bonuses. And less of what we don't need: A-Rod, the ultimate overpaid prima donna sports star.

This Is Not That Day

(Warning: Spoilers) In a comment below Gandhi pointed out the culturalist overtones in the newly completed Lord of the Rings trilogy, including an interesting interview with John Rhys-Davies, aka Gimli and Treebeard's voice. The aging actor pulls no punches about the film's applicability to our times, and becomes rather politically incorrect about it:

But if it involves the replacement of Western civilization with a different civilization with different cultural values, then it is something we really ought to discuss — because, [hang it all], I am for dead-white-male culture!”

Now, it is certainly not the case that Peter Jackson and Hollywood were making a pro-Bushite film. Rather, these overtones are left over from JRR Tolkien, and the cataclysm of World War II, when evil threatened an end to Western civilization. If you were a conspiracy theorist, you could think of Mordor as Nazi Germany and Isengard as militant Japan. Rohan would be the U.S., unwilling at first to enter a conflict until attacked by Saruman. Gondor, or England, lay under siege and was bombarded, with women and children dying along with the men. The First War of the Ring would be World War I, when Sauron (Germany) used a set of binding rings (a web of alliances) to bring the civilizations of Middle Earth to the brink of death. The Ring (Germany's power) was not destroyed, only taken by the West and lost. If you want to stretch the analogy to the edge of ridicule, Osgiliath is Dunkirk (near Ostend) and the Undead are the U.S.S.R., who are mighty powerful, but can't really be trusted and desert you immediately after the war. The Ring, of course, represents not the Bomb but power. It is that siren temptation, which "though I would use it for good, through me it would wield an evil too terrible to behold". Perhaps then it does represent the Bomb: a great force, which men supposed they could use for good but which - in Tolkien's world - was evil, pure evil, and in his world destroying our own weapon destroys the very enemy we fight.

In the current "clash of civilizations" (an ideology which rests on Huntington's oft-rebutted claim that "Arabs, Chinese and Westerners, however, are not part of any broader cultural entity"), some - including Rhys-Davies - would say that Sauron symbolizes oppressive, militant Islam, which seeks to overthrow Western power, change our culture and imprison our women. There is undoubtedly some truth in this comparison, especially as seen by non-Westerners, who wouldn't know political correctness from a hole in the wall. They see a clash of civilizations far more than we do, primarily because our civilization is winning, or so Huntington would argue.

However, the Lord of the Rings analogy breaks down pretty quickly against the current conflict. First of all, the white guys are powerful, not weak. Industrialism - which Tolkien hated - is the backbone of the West, not a tool of the Islamists. The similarities are mostly aesthetic, and have more to do with Tolkien and his readers' prejudices than any intention in the writing. Tolkien's friend C.S. Lewis also portrayed the "bad guys" as Arabs, just as Tolkien describes men from the south and east of Middle Earth as "swarthy barbarians". These European stereotypes - dating back as far as the wars between the Islamic Empire and the armies of medieval Christendom - are probably more of a subconscious accident; certainly Islam was no threat in the 1940's, and the men bombing London were tall, blonde Aryans. Perhaps the dehumanization of the enemy in the Lord of The Rings is a wishful thought, wishing that you could shoot the enemy without guilt, and bomb his country without killing innocent children. We of the 21st century must not be blinded by these wishes. If we could put the U.S. military in a room with Osama Bin Laden, we know who would emerge; rather we face the reality that Osama is more likely surrounded with innocent women and children than with blood-lusting warriors, and if we wish to kill some, we must soberly count the cost that we will undoubtedly incur on humanity, which is bigger than any civilization and binds us all together, from Kalamazoo to Kabul to Konigsberg to Kyoto.

Vive la Liberte!

Normally I'm a fairly patriotic person. I support my country, and I support my country's historic allies. No matter how misguided and racist and elitist the generations of the past were, they got it right enough that they left the door open for their children and grandchildren to outlaw racism, to integrate schools, and to give the vote to all. It's when those changes are reversed by supposedly "enlightened" people that it disturbs me.

A new law, reported in the Washington Post, outlaws the wearing of Muslim veils in high schools -- and it's supported by the President! This supposedly supports "equality". Now, tell me if I'm missing the point, but I thought that the whole point of civil rights, non-racism, and religious freedom was that we accept people who are different from us. Now they're telling us that you must be conformist to be equal, and that religion is a private matter that shouldn't leave the home. That's true, if you are an agnostic. But for the rest of us, religion informs every part of our daily lives. This law is so bad, so bad I can't find words to fisk it. It's not the end of history, it's the end of freedom.

Laws abridging the right of citizens to practice their religion... just one more reason to hate the French.

Clark

Clark is clutching at straws. The idea that this Arkansan actually roots for the Pats seems slightly disingenuous.

On the other hand, his refusal to attack Howard Dean may signal a strategic withdrawal from the presidential fracas, with hopes pinned on being Dean's running mate, since he would certainly balance Dean's dangerously northeastern liberal character.

Finals

Here's to finals and my crazy friends! Check out the blackmail goods from Ovalstar's camera, especially the dance video at the end.

Introducing: Parker

Friend and fellow nerd Dave Parker, an MIT grad student from New Hampshire, has gotten his site up and running. Not quite a polished product as of yet, but it's got some worthwhile commentary and great photos. Check it out now, and in the "Free Speech" section hence (I really can't call it a journal).

LOTR Preview

You might not be a nerd if you insult the third book in the Gospel of Nerdliness by writing "Okay, so instead of wearing camouflage tunics and carrying M-4s, our special forces ops have big hairy bare feet and dress like extras in 'H.M.S. Pinafore.'"

The author redeems himself by moving on to understanding Tolkien in light of his World War I experience: "You see it on the battlefields, such as the one at Pelennor Fields... It's the Somme -- where 20,000 young English boys ran into emplaced German machine gun fire".

You might be a nerd if...

You stay up until 2:00 in the morning watching re-runs on C-Span. I just love that channel, and if you let me I could spend eight hours a day watching it. I'm proud to report, however, that I haven't spent eight hours watching it in the past six months combined, though after having so much fun watching Hillary, Dean, Edwards and Dubya I might be tuning in again soon. It's so much more fun than movies!

Incidentally, Edwards hasn't got a chance. I had to turn it off while he spoke, because it was so folksy and cliche-ridden. Coming on the tails of Dean - who is so feisty that he turned mean on a rabbi - Edwards looked like a good candidate for selectman or country sheriff. And coming on all their heels, Bush blew them away. I guess it helps to be the President, and be able to say what you've done, rather than what you will do. Amazingly, however, for a man with a West Texas speech impediment, he's redefined political speechmaking by bringing it back to content. Speeches a la Edwards give no indication of a pol's actual beliefs; you go away assured that he approves of motherhood. By contrast, Dubya was able to make no-nonsense (if not no-speech-gaffe) answers to questions about Iraq, trying Saddam Hussein, etc.

Also, having been out of the news for most of the last six months, I've seen a lot of maturing in the President's speaking style. He's much slower to answer, and avoids many of the pitfalls that he encountered before. The new approach might not have worked well as a candidate, but it certainly makes him appear more stately and in control, and avoids unnecessary verbal blunders. There were, however, a number of times when his gaffes had me guffawing, such as "the best way to find these terrorists who hide in holes is to get people coming forth to describe the location of the hole."

Two Down

Four to go.

I have successfully applied (successfully in the sense that the applications are in) to Yale and Columbia for a Ph.D. in Economics. Next up: Brown and New York University. The last batch (a month from now) are MIT and Boston University. I can't describe the relief from submitting these. Downside: it's out of my hands; I can't do a thing to help myself (except prayer, which I have been diligent in).

I've been thinking about adding another school to my list. This may be pedantic, and it mostly grows of the fear that I'm not going to be accepted by four or even five of my choices. It also grows of the fact that this process occurs in December, which I am convinced seriously benefits southern and Californian universities. I mean, where would you rather be right now: Yale or UCLA?

The Iraqis Will Send You To Hell!

Cursing is not very common Arabic (outside Lebanon), and its rarity makes it a lot stronger when used. Timing is key, like in a military operation.

Four pre-Baath takeover Iraqi politicians had a half-hour interview with Saddam as part of the military's confirmation of who he is.

"He showed no remorse whatsoever," said Ahmed Chalabi, a prominent former opposition leader who also was at the meeting. Rubaie said one of the visitors noted that if they were still detainees and Hussein still were president, he would "put us in a meat grinder." "We asked him, 'What if we give you to the Iraqi people?' " Rubaie recalled. "He said, 'To those demagogues?' Can you believe it? He called the Iraqi people demagogues."... That prompted one of the four to ask Hussein how he planned to "face God on doomsday?" "I will face him with a calm heart," Hussein responded, according to Rubaie. As he left the room, Rubaie said he could not resist taking one parting shot. "I told him, 'Damn you!' " Rubaie said. " 'The Iraqis will send you to hell.' "

Send that sucker to the Hague (out of the reach of suicide bombers), send a tribunal of Iraqis, and let them go to work on him!

Go Dean!

I hope Dean wins the Democratic nomination for three principle reasons:

1. We won't have to suffer any of the nine Dem fools for four years.
2. The election will be monumentally entertaining.
3. Reality-challenged liberals will come out of the woodwork and be exposed for the political nutcases they are. Exhibit A is someone commenting on Dean's Blog For America:

Donna in Evanston writes: Stay on course. The Bush administration is the most corrupt in the history of this country. Nothing has changed. Bush must go. Yes, Donna you are absolutely correct. Bush is worse than Harding, Nixon and even Clinton. Bush should be tried in The Hague for crimes against humanity. I think Bush is responsible for poverty, cancer and most of the WB's crappy programming. And besides maybe this is all staged just like the moon landing. Posted by k73 at December 14, 2003 11:34 AM

Or is that just a clever G.O.P. sneak, like the one who wrote "Clinton got Elian Gonzalez, Bush Got Saddam Hussein"?

Thanks to Mac for the link. Political splutter is a high form of entertainment.

Bells Are Ringing

Saddam Hussein has been captured! Found on a farm outside of Tikrit, in an old-fashioned extra room off the cellar. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Lt. Col. Sanchez said troops acted after receiving a tip that Hussein was possibly at one of two locations. After searches of both locations failed to turn up Hussein, U.S. forces began scouring other places in the area and came upon Hussein hiding in what Sanchez called a six-to-eight-foot-deep "spider hole" that had been camouflaged with bricks and dirt. The soldiers saw the hole, investigated and found him inside, Sanchez said.

Page Not Found

Yale definitely moved up in the ranks of the schools to which I am applying when I found, or rather failed to find, this page. In a gratuitous display of nerdliness worthy of such an august institution, Yale makes sure to tell you in every language from Newfinease to Hungarian Slang to Klingon to Dholuo that your page cannot be found.

Oh Crepe

Not only have I completely lost my crepe-making touch, but I also managed to add injury to insult by giving myself a pleasant second-degree burn on my right hand. Thank God it doesn't hurt, but I'm all bandaged up today and finding out just how un-ambidexterous I am.

Notes to self:
1. Do not put baking powder in crepes.
2. Use margerine - not oil or Pam - to keep the pan from sticking to the crepe.
3. Hire French chef.

Blogging the Public Square

This is truly a noble use of blogging. A Red Line commuter and architect is blogging the public process and redesign of the Ashmont T station in Dorchester, near where I first lived as a child. He reports on neighborhood association meetings, the T's announcements, and news about the project. His architecture background and daily commute give him an informed perspective and make for an interesting and valuable (to those who care about the redesign of Ashmont station) product. Cheers!

Counterpoint

Here's a guest piece by Gandhi, which I have taken the liberty of commenting on. Please do not associate me with his viewpoints, nor worse his facts.

I wouldn't be so hasty to call victory, Chops. That is what the Democrats would like you to think - that big money from big companies comes with corruption and strings attached. In fact, the implementation behind McCain-Feingold comes as a significant blow to Republican fundraising, and extends the control of the federal government to restrict us from spending our money as we please. Sadly, the days of small, beautiful campaigns are over. The Democrats have their own dirty games for fundraising through loopholes in the new law... notice that few of them have been complaining about McCain-Feingold, but it has evoked a significant response from Republicans. Do you honestly believe that's because we're more sleazy than the Democrats?

-- Interestingly enough, Gandhi, this has been a HUGE advantage for Republicans. Democrats miscalculated how much money they would lose. This was in the major papers when the fundraising started, but it's old news now. Here's a lefty pastor bemoaning the new laws (among other things). The Hill says, "After McCain-Feingold passed, a funny thing happened. The Democrats discovered they weren’t as good as Republicans are at raising hard money. At $2,000 per person, they could only come up with $66.5 million through the end of September of this year. In the same period, the Republicans raised $158 million." Even the conservative Washington Times reports "Republicans traditionally have outpaced Democrats at raising hard money, so Democrats have focused on raising soft money to make up the difference. As a result, Republicans say the soft-money ban hurts Democrats more. "For years, Democrats pretended that they wanted campaign finance reform, all while relying heavily on soft money," said the National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman, Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds of New York. He said yesterday's Supreme Court decision upholding key parts of the new law "breaks the Democrats' back." " Sorry, just wanted make sure you knew Gandhi was wrong - but back to his piece:

As your article states, the issue that needs to be addressed is those who don't donate on "ideological grounds, but for the express purpose of securing influence over federal officials". Some may argue that this led President Bush to implement the (very foolish) tariffs on steel that have recently come under so much controversy. With the WTO firing back with its own tariffs, the President has now hopefully learned his lesson.

-- Yup. And I would argue that the President is not "corrupt" in the classic sense (accepting bribes, etc). However, soft money contributors have always made sure that elected officials know who their daddy is, and that's a problem for the electorate. When money is more important than citizen opinion at delivering votes, a fundamental flaw exists, because elected officials interested in staying there do better if they pander to the big donors (unions, corporations, etc) than if they try to do what makes voters happy. And please don't go all Hamiltonian on me.

But that some special-interest money has an effect on the way politics is played out doesn't necessarily merit more laws and more restrictions on soft money. A certain level of pressure by businesses is healthy, as it reminds even the more liberal candidates that they can’t ignore businesses in their relentless quest to “feed the poor by taxing the rich”. Certainly individuals should not be subject to these soft-money rules. Some (limited) restrictions may need to be placed on corporations that abuse the system to gain government handouts from the politicians whom they support, damaging local and worldwide markets. But what we really need, rather than more laws, is more gutsy politicians that won't give in to corporate pressure. Perhaps any new laws should be directed at the recipients of campaign money, rather than to those who supply it.

-- Wow. Why didn't I think of that. I'll get on the phone with God right now about changing human nature! Where are we going to find incorruptible politicians? How are we going to know when we've found them?? Are you so naive as to think we haven't already done all we can to place legal limits on the recipients of campaign money???

Oh ye of little knowledge and lots of ideology.

Victory!

In a victory for clean politics and lots of other good stuff, the Supreme Court upheld the McCain-Feingold bill. In my thinking, this promotes free speech, because politically motivated folks are going to have to find more legitimate means of making their views known than simply buying TV time. Watch for the creation of ideological TV and radio stations and newspapers. That, my friends, is free speech, and is protected by the Constitution. Just as speech that jeopordizes the security of the United States is not protected, neither is 'speech' that jeopordizes the integrity of America's elected representatives. Small campaigns - like small government - are beautiful.

If you must

I wouldn't recommend, but if you must drop a heavy air conditioning unit from a third-story window, do so on a day when there are three feet of snow below said window. It won't save the AC unit, but it will save your older brother from having to pick up lots of little pieces of AC. On the other hand, don't do it to your parents AC while they're in Europe, or they are likely to revoke staying-in-Mom-and-Dad's-room priveleges on future occasions.

If you have any questions regarding the strategy, tactics, ethics, or mechanics of dropping AC units out of windows, just call 1-800-555-DUMB, and ask for my sister Polly.

The Pillbox

After church yesterday, we took advantage of a once-a-winter opportunity (two feet of snow), and did some serious building. The Hill boys had begun to build a snowpile the night before, with the intention of making it an igloo. We, um, built on that idea. And we just kept building. Some of us - the visionaries, you might say - saw almost limitless opportunity in the snow in neighbors' yards, and continued to shovel even after a small room had been hollowed out of the igloo. We continued to shovel when the football game started. We continued to shovel during halftime. We went in for the dramatic Fourth Quarter (the Pats are pretty predictable in that regard), and came right back out before the cheering crowd at the Razor was finished showering itself in celebratory cold confetti. We shoveled until the mound was about 100 square feet at its base, and worked alternately to hollow out the inside.

Currently, you could fit ten or twelve people in there without much effort; there's a load-bearing pillar helping to keep the roof up (where it will hopefully stay for a few weeks at least). There are shelves, a flooring board and rug, two lawn chairs, a drink holder, a mail slot, a ceremonial outdoor throne, spray-painted signs, three windows at the chain link fence that anchors two sides of the Pillbox, and even a handicap access mechanism.

The division of labor was rather complex, as with any major engineering project in the complicated world of Boston contracting. Specifically:
Daniel: Rich dude who commissioned the building
Steve: Founder and President, Pillbox Corporation
S: Chief Architect
Petes: Foreman
Craig: Union Rep
Ali Baba: Disability Access Consultant
Dubya: El Jefe, Mexican day laborer
Noah, Hope, Elizabeth, Faith, others: Day laborers
Geffkie: Sub-contractor
Kitchie: Corporate donor
Mom Hill: Mayor
Pops Hill: Building Inspector

Don't let the titles fool you, though - the list is organized with most work put in at the top (well, except for Daniel), least at the bottom. Upon completion, we grabbed candles and munchies from the house and the five guys went and hung out and chatted in the Pillbox for an hour. Good times, memorable times.

Snow, seriously

So, yeah, God must have read my post about how much I like I snow, because he just tipped the bucket over on the East Coast. WOOHOO! I'm spending the midday going around Boston on my cross-country (er, cross-town?) skies and generally being the envy of all.

Have I mentioned that I like snow?

Pseudo Friday Five

I don't often do the Friday Five, but Rick's fill-in (the regular creator of this massive meme is on vaca) is an interesting holiday season lead-in.

The Questions:
1) what is the first christmas gift you remember getting as a child?
2) how would you replace "five golden rings" in the 12 Days of Christmas with something that's valuable to you (and fits the meter of the song)
3) what are you getting me for Christmas? (whoops - how did that get in there?)
4) what was your favorite gift to give last year?
5) do you remember/still own/still use any gifts from last year?

My Answers:
1) Wow. Well, I used to (hate) get(ting) sweaters from my grandmother as a child. Playmobile, which started pouring in at age four, was always a gift staple too.
2) "five thousand bucks, four Turkish Kurds, three French fries, two turtlenecks, and a beer."
3) A high-end European sports car. In your dreams.
4) I got a game for my little cousins whom I lived with which involved building rail networks across 18th-century America. So much fun to play with them and their friends!
5) Yeah, the fleece and shirt I'm wearing now both came from the same cousins. The shirt was actually from my French uncle's brother, who hardly spoke any English (about equal to my French), but managed to communicate after I'd gotten a few articles of clothing, that now I could actually look decent for a change. From a Frog, that was quite a compliment.

JUBILATION

I popped the question. She said "yes". Now she's my sister forever. WOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Conspiracy

I tried to write a post about how a certain baseball franchise with a megalomaniac owner, smug players and arrogant pricks for fans is under investigation by the state of New York. However, Blogger is clearly part of the E*il E*pire, and it immediately destroyed my work. Check out this story, and you'll begin to understand The Truth.

Gut-Wrenching

It is now 2:07am. I've been working on a big paper for Professor Michael Dukakis. And I closed Netscape, in an effort to get my glazed-over mind back on my work. And Microsoft Bleeping Word crashed. I was on page 15.

Fortunately, I save my work every 12 seconds: Bill Gates has trained me well.

What Happened To Dave?

In case you were wondering.

Snow

I got to peddle to school through the hush of Boston's first dusting of snow this morning. I think that's the biggest reason I like snow: it takes all the noise and hustle and quiets it to a whisper. The snow in the air and on the ground muffles the general chaotic noise of the city, and leaves only a few close-by sounds, which are all the richer and smoother for the stillness. The bare patches and the dead grass are covered in an immaculate blanket, and the stark trees take on a frosty, decorative glow as snowflakes cling to their branches. Praise be to the Creator for sprinkling us with beauty!

Exposed!

Campus Crusade for Christ, RealLife Boston, Agape Christian Fellowship. Call it what you will, the game is up. The Boston Globe Magazine published a long expose on these groups (which, if you aren't aware, function rather like Russian nesting dolls. Agape looks like RealLife just smaller; likewise RealLife is a mini-Crusade, and is within Crusade). Neil Swidely investigates...

After lagging far behind the rest of the nation, where a June Gallup Poll found that 41 percent of Americans identified themselves as "evangelical" or "born-again," New England is beginning to close the gap, with congregations sprouting in rented schools and office parks. Nowhere is that more true than at Boston's elite, soaked-in-secularism colleges... Danielle DiTullio from Stoneham is in her third year at Northeastern University. She has an electric smile and wears a stud in her nose and her dirty-blond hair pulled back. She grew up in Stoneham, marinated in Catholic culture -- church every Sunday, parochial school all the way through. "But," she says, "it never really connected with me." As a freshman at Northeastern, she met a group of women in her dormitory who invited her to Bible study. "I held off for a while, not knowing if it was cultish," DiTullio says. "All I knew about evangelicals was that they were people who hand out pamphlets and yell at you." Yet DiTullio found herself attracted to their passion and eventually realized they were not a cult. They were also patient. "They prayed for me to come to Jesus," she says. "They prayed for a whole year." Their prayers worked. She went to a meeting at the end of her freshman year, then a worship service, and later a citywide Campus Crusade meeting. "I could literally feel my heart grow," she says. Her involvement deepened last year, though her parents remain concerned. "We're still trying to get through it," DiTullio says... Somewhere along the way, evangelical Christianity -- which a generation earlier had been a mark of embarrassment, a sign that you had checked your brain at the gate -- became not just tolerated but cool.

You hear that? We're cool. More importantly, we're growing. Most importantly, God has more cool up his sleeve than Neil Swidely has ever seen. Where I come from, we call it "revival", but it's the Globe, so "cool" will do.

This article was an answer to prayer. When my friends were interviewed (Danielle made it into the article, but he interviewed a lot of folks), Bethany came to me and excitedly reminded me that in September, at our daily 7am prayer meeting, I'd prayed that a revival would reach the college campuses so much that the Boston Globe would have to write about it. So yeah, that great God? He answers prayer! Speaking of which, Dubya pointed out that the article ends with prayer requests, like any Christian newsletter would:

Yet for every Steve Douglass, there are many more students whose intense involvement slackens after commencement. That's when all the attributes that made the evangelical groups so appealing to students -- their premium on tight-knit social circles, their student-run, non-hierarchical approach, their funky, late-night culture -- can begin to work against them in meeting the needs of the post-college crowd. To keep them in the fold, the groups try to serve as feeders for evangelical churches in the area. It's hardly a seamless transition, though, and these bustling churches have their own continuity problems. Park Street Church sees its congregation turn over by half every three years. In the end, the evangelical groups have resigned themselves to a certain level of fall-off among graduates. That's acceptable, because next fall, on just about every campus, there will be a new batch of bright-eyed, bewildered freshmen snaking through a student activities fair. And for now at least, no matter what kind of candy bars are being handed out, they know they'll find plenty of hungry souls.

We certainly haven't resigned ourselves to that. Of course, in the sense that people will be less active after college, that's assumed. I suppose it's asking too much of the Globe to understand spiritual health, and how it has a lot more to do with the time you spend on your knees than the time you spend at the mic. Nonetheless, the prayer request stands: graduating students who had fellowship in college and move into the "real world" without strong ties to fellowship and lack a sense of priorities risk losing much of their focus and passion. Pray for those of us who are graduating to stay strong in our faith, and to get involved wherever our lives takes us next! There's a big world out there, and its fate is more important than getting a job or even a spouse!