Youknow who they are. The slackers of Dartmouth, a proud bunch of folks who don't need to be proud of anything. They sit in your classes far in the back, they fall asleep right in front and they rarely sit in their seats in the middle. Slackers are what make the world go round. The walk cross campus, drifting from place to place, with little worry of their next class.
It's so easy to get caught up in the daily routine and the chores of school and work, even here at Dartmouth where for many, four out of seven nights can be spent safely in a drunken stupor. No classes the next day -- isn't it great? When the next day does come around and the combination of hops and barley can do nothing more but induce the ingestion of Advil, it's back to the grind.
Midterms to study for, a job to keep, paperwork to fill out and in the mating months of spring, one must go-a-dating. There's too much to worry about, and never enough time to worry about the time it takes to worry.
Sprinkle into this mix the slackers of Dartmouth, and they work their magic like a giant Tylenol for all of Dartmouth. Everybody needs their daily dose of Dartmouth slacker culture. Without it, Dartmouth would be just another Princeton with cooler colors. The slackers of Dartmouth chose the school, knowing that they could find a home among other slackers. Everybody enjoys the company of a slacker.
Sadly enough, slackers hardly dominate the whole scene. Dartmouth has more than its fair share of studiously organized students. Someone needs to remind the Dartmouth Bookstore to stock up on more daily planners. Still, it is the job of the slacker to keep the armies of book burdened students from swarming Baker and wearing out the carpet in the Tower room. The slacker reminds everybody that there's something more than studying, working and partying.
The slacker is there for you in the class to swallow the "Fs" and "Ds" with pride. He's there for you that you might impress that professor from whom you need a Foreign Study Program recommendation. He saves the hot water in the showers for you in the morning, and he was definitely there for you when you first applied to Dartmouth College. The slacker has been there for you your whole life.
Now ask yourself, where were you when the slacker was in need, sitting at home burning his tests? The slacker doesn't forget about all the little people. He'll ignore his studies, to brighten your somber day, and when a paper is due, he'll skip a class to help you pass it in.
No, we can't all be slackers nor should we be. However, we all have a little slacker inside of us whispering suggestions in our ears, and he shouldn't always be ignored.
It's so easy to get so self absorbed in studies and the routine that we forget the little things. Even fun becomes part of the routine, the weekend routine.
Rush here, rush there, do that and this. Slackers are never in such a rush, they'll stop to waste an afternoon and evening any day of the week, talking to a friend, or going for a hike for no reason at all.
The slacker is not an unmotivated kind of guy, but his motivations are his own, not for grades or unloved graduate ambitions. The slacker has a heart, and his heart means well. He may have not learned much by skipping his classes and leaving assignments to the last minute, but he's learned to relax and make others relax, and that's one cue we all can take.
As much as Dartmouth prides itself on being the ever green and relaxed leaf of the Ivy League, we often leave that burden of relaxing too much on one group of students, the slackers. All of us should take up some of that slack, and let the slacker do what he does best, slacking.
