The So-called Activists

I got my first lesson on students' dynamics from an upperclassman two years my senior. She said, "There are two types of students here. The SOs [study-oriented students] and the activists. Most students in the Pharmacy Department are SOs." Despite my having been a college student for only several months at that time, I had already understood the underlying meaning in her statement. She was clearly of the latter type, and she obviously didn't think highly of the former type.

The sentiment is that activists are good, and the SOs are bad. I mean not bad and good in moral context, but more in terms of social standing. The SOs are seen as unsociable, nerds, and ignorant. And the activists, whether they're the ones who spend their times holding protests, engaging in meetings until late at night, making publications, participating in/setting up festivities in a regular basis, or just hanging around leisurely in their organization's HQ, are the life and blood of the country. (The head of the main student body in my university is called "President"; therefore, comparing a university with a country is not unreasonable.)

I have to admit that I was an SO and yes, it's infuriating, being degraded indirectly like that. But the thing that annoys me the most was the I'm-better-than-you mentality, which is tolerable, if it's really true. However, that's not the case. The truth of the matter is, SOs and activists are not that different at all, especially when you see how they're doing in the real life, after finishing college.

Yes, there are a few activists who remain true to their words, words of an activist (you'll see what I mean in a short while), but there are only a small number of them; and for them, I offer them my utmost respect. But most of them, well, they're all talk. I remember the ones most persistent in criticizing our detachment ("Why can't you participate more? We need to be united, so give more time to think about our concern as a unit!") and the proudest in showing off their busy schedule ("There's a meeting at five, be sure to come! And there's this proposal that needs sending.") are the ones end up as the most loyal corporate rats, ever. Or the greediest when it comes to milking money. Like a person I know who used to be an activist promoting students' welfare, but now is working as a marketing guy for a pharmaceutical company, whose responsibility is to cut deals with doctors so that they would prescribe medicines produced by the company. And if you wonder what's wrong with it, it's nothing really; just the fact that in this country those illicit deals are the main factor composing drug production cost that it becomes so expensive beyond patients' ability to buy medicine.

In the end of the day, labels are just...labels. They give you a small glimpse of reality, but they never show the whole picture. So often that people get so consumed with labels sticking on them they're too busy feeling more superior and sophisticated than others, albeit unconsciously. They've forgotten that it's the spirit that really counts. And because of that, in this particular case, the label, status, and notable activities in their college years don't make them better than anybody else. They simply give a longer list of things they could brag about on their CVs. And what's so gratifying about that?

Note: If you're annoyed reading this, it's an indication that you're one of those so-called activists I mentioned above. If not, well done for you.