My communications teacher stands at the front of the class, casually sipping from his diet coke bottle as he attempts to explain to us the ethics of communication. He starts to explain to us how important it is to have a set of morals when in the business, considering we will be put in compromising situations where we have to choose to stick by our morals or stick by our paycheck. To keep our attention, he poked fun at us for our continuous and obnoxious use of “YOLO.” He reminded us that yes, you do only live once, so “live good.”
My teacher got me thinking.. is YOLO a motivational guideline to live our lives by that we’ve now changed into a rationalization for being sloppy and stupid? No matter how annoyed you get by hearing other people say it, you know in turn you’ve said it yourself while cheering to the 5th shot of Svedka you and your friends are about to down.
Since the rapper, Drake, (aka my boyfriend), put on blast “it’s the motto ***** YOLO”, our generation has turned it into a way to make our conscious feel better about whatever mistakes we made blackout the night prior. Every girl has said it after shacking, or the boulevard, and even after Wine Wednesday. We’re all allowed to have our nights, our mistakes, and our regrets, but the point about having those is to learn from them, not to brush them off. Sooner or later, YOLO becomes the rationalization for your failing grades and ruined reputation.
My teacher was right. We do only live once. So live well, including going out and having fun, but also sticking to some morals.