By: Kevin Mulcrone

Last week’s Newswire featured an advice column that told students one thing: Stop caring. At first I thought it was satire (and maybe it was) in order to arouse some feeling of anger towards those who care too much, but then I realized that some people actually believe this. Some people believe that if you don’t care about things and let life go by without applying yourself to anything, then you’ll be fine. My challenge to Xavier students: Start caring.

No one knows what the future is going to bring, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t plan for it. In fact, the future is so uncertain, you must plan for it.

Spend time developing yourself and your skills in order to become who

you want to be. That is how you become a better person. The rest of life – the jobs, the housing, the relationships and the other benefits of being successful – will fall into place if you do this. Trust me.

Graduating from college does not guarantee success. Xavier students are intelligent people, but there are a lot of other people who are just as intelligent.

What differentiates intelligent people who are successful from those whose intelligence goes to waste is hard work and planning. As Winston Churchill said, “Continuous effort – not strength or intelligence – is the key to unlocking our potential.”

You are not naïve. You are incredibly aware, intelligent and sophisticated individuals who have the ability to change your world. However, you can only do this if you start caring.

Success comes to those who plan. Success comes to those who wake up early and stay up late. Success comes to those grab life by the balls and run past those who don’t care. And to that, I will drink.