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Issue date: 10/3/08 Section: Voices

Does it seem like America is frantic right now? When people feel backed into a corner, they panic, and when they panic, they react. Americans were enraged by Bill Clinton's moral lapse and reacted. Now, many of us regret our decision to elect Bush. Looking back, it seems like just a reaction. We were on board with him right after 9/11, but later wondered if we made the best decisions. Was war the right answer? Maybe we all just reacted again?

A good picture of a truly wise man - a man I'd like to be someday­ - depicts a man who stops and thinks. He makes decisions after looking through many lenses. He views a situation through spectacles of rationality, compassion, mercy and justice - and all in light of the past - so as not to repeat the mistakes of history. This man is not emotionless but he is master of his emotions, not vice-versa. He knows they are deceitful.

Yet how often do we react in everyday situations? If someone says something stupid in class, it's nearly impossible to fight the urge to correct him. When someone hurts us, we immediately declare social warfare on her. We do this all the time in small and large decisions alike.

People give our generation many callings. We are asked to be the generation of change, to be a generation of peace, to be a generation of progression. Instead, what if we became the generation of wisdom?

This is a call to stop reacting. Just because our country isn't what we want it to be under a leader at one end of the spectrum does not mean it will be better under the leader at the other end. The same goes with the economy at the moment. Yes, things seem bad, and we all want and need change, but let's make sure we are not just reacting again. Let's be wise in our decision-making. If we fight our way blindly out of this corner like the leaders before us, will we just have another regret?

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