Extremism to the Extreme

"Moderation is a fatal thing; nothing succeeds like excess," wrote Oscar Wilde. Wilde would have loved Princeton. As I was sitting in Frist this week, there was a sign that said "Open 24 Hours." Now, I had a lot of work to do for midterms this week, but I don't know if I would be studying all night long. Not that I don't think Frist should be open all night during midterms: some people study better late at night and need a place to do so.

But what did strike me is how extreme Princeton can be. During Midterm Week it was especially apparent. It made me think of Reading Period in the spring that comes right after Houseparties. Think about it: we basically spend three straight days partying and then on the following Monday we drag ourselves, exhausted and hung over, to Firestone to write papers and study for finals. Midterm Week, Houseparties and Reading Period may seem like special cases, but I wonder how special they actually are. It seems that we work hard from Sunday evening (afternoon, if you're motivated) to Thursday afternoon. Thursday night through Sunday morning are spent, for the most part, playing hard. Of course, I'm generalizing, but this does seem to me to be the prevailing pattern of our college weeks.

The Senior Thesis is another Princeton extreme. Now that the thesis-crunch is upon the seniors, I hardly see any of my senior friends. One commented to me that she felt like she had to stop her life to get her thesis done. Does it really have to be this way? (Note to self: Don't be a Woody Woo major.) JPs are the same on a slightly smaller level.

I'm not saying that we shouldn't "work hard/play hard" or that we shouldn't throw ourselves totally into whatever it is we happen to be doing. But I am saying that perhaps we should take a step back and try to balance all the things that go on in our lives. Maybe you won't get straight As (or even 3 out of 4), and maybe you won't be able to go out every single night. But, really, are straight As that important? And doesn't the 'Street' get pretty repetitive?

Not to get too philosophical, but it seems to me that we want to squeeze every single drop out of this all-too-short Princeton experience — and perhaps out of this all-too-short life in general — by making sure we take everything to the extreme. I wonder if we wouldn't actually get more — in the long run — if we tried to find a balance between our academic life and our social life, between independent work and extra-curricular activities. This balance could make the overall experience more enjoyable, so that we could appreciate the few moments we have here, rather than feeling like we have to run from one thing to the other, trying to pack it all in.

Oscar Wilde might have loved Princeton because of its extremist environment. But I know there is more than just extremism that Wilde would have loved about Princeton. How about the myriad opportunities to learn, volunteer, meet people, have fun and, also, to relax? The biggest problem with Princeton is that there is too much to do. With all these great things why don't we try and strike some sort of balance so we can enjoy them? Instead of trying to do it all and not really even knowing what it is we're trying to accomplish.

But let's not be extremist about this whole balance thing.

(John Lurz is an English major from Lutherville, MD. He can be reached at johnlurz@princeton.edu)